Suns' Kevin Durant 'Never Happy'; Brooklyn Nets Weren't The Problem

There are some very evident problems in Phoenix. The Suns could very well be running into the same problem the Brooklyn Nets dealt with a season ago. Their stars aren't meshing. The team isn't coming together. And the idea of going "all in" with three star players isn't panning out.

For the Nets, they brought in Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant in the 2019 free agency. They added James Harden in 2021 via the Houston Rockets. They played just 16 games together and all three former Nets stars were traded after asking their way out of Brooklyn.

Phoenix could very well soon see a similar fate to Brooklyn as ESPN's Stephen A. Smith reports Durant is "never happy."

"Kevin Durant, in Phoenix, is a problem," Smith exclaimed. "It is a problem. We don't see it because the stats are there... but they say Kevin Durant is never happy. They say he went more than a month without even talking to the head coach. They say that he doesn't look happy there."

With the Nets' former big three, injuries certainly were an issue. Still, that wasn't the only issue with Durant's tenure. It wasn't even an issue with the Brooklyn franchise. The personalities simply didn't mesh.

"When it comes to ingratiating yourself with your teammates and getting along with everybody and stuff like that, he just lives in his own world," Smith said.

In building an NBA team, buy-in on the roster is important. That begins with the superstar and No. 1 option. Durant was that in Brooklyn. Conveniently, the only team Durant saw true success with was the Golden State Warriors -- led by superstar Stephen Curry, not Durant.

This is no knock on Durant's talent. He's elite and one of the best players in the entire NBA. He simply isn't cut to be the main guy on a contending team, and he's got to be in the perfect situation to win an NBA Championship, as proven by his Warriors tenure.

It never was a Nets issue, after all. Now the Suns get to realize that in real time while Brooklyn holds their future draft picks.

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