Kevin Durant explains his trade request he made this summer

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Kevin Durant asked the owner directly to be traded and his request was initially granted, but everything was abandoned because they could not find a partner for the trade. Joe Tsai (owner of the Nets), Steve Nash (coach), and Sean Marks (general manager), and it was decided that he will stay until 2025, as guaranteed by the contract signed last summer.

"As the season went on, you seen what happened with our season: guys in and out of the lineup, injuries, just a lot of uncertainty, which built some doubt in my mind about the next four years of my career. I mean, I'm getting older.

I want to be in a place that's stable and try to build a championship culture. So I had some doubts about that. And I voiced them to Joe. My whole thing was I wanted everybody to be held accountable for their habits as a basketball player every day," Durant said.

"And I think a lot of stuff was getting swept under the rug because we're injured or this guy's not around or just the circumstances. I thought we could've fought through that a little bit more and focused on the guys that were here a little bit more."

Nets' approach cost them respect around the league

"What I want for us is respect amongst the NBA community, as a team, how we play, on both ends of the floor, from GM all the way down to the equipment manager," Durant said.

"I want that respect. And I think you do that by how you work every single day. And we skipped some steps in how we worked throughout that year last year because of the circumstances. Vaccine mandates, people disgruntled, injuries.

I felt like we could've just kept pressing forward." The popular "KD" says that the Nets had to put up a stronger resistance, especially in the moments when the main players were injured, because this is a characteristic of the champion character.

"It was a year of growth," Durant said. "And a year of us looking in the mirror of, like, we f---ed up. As a team. And that only makes you better. So I'm banking on that." Durant said, he has faith that "we all want the same things.

Especially after a summer of us basically having a standoff. That's only going to make us better and make us more competitive and want to go out there and show what we can do." "Nets fans should know me after three years," he said.

"And the work I put in. We've been through a lot as a team and I still go out there and do my job. So I don't feel like I have to prove anything to Net fans after three years. I'm committed to moving forward with this team. So if they've got doubts, then I can't control that, that's on you."