Kevin Durant slams critics saying he’s ‘not a leader’ as Kyrie Irving remains suspended by team

Kevin Durant has slammed detractors who claim he’s not a leader as the Nets star plays without co-star Kyrie Irving due to the latter’s ongoing suspension.

Durant has performed well in Irving’s absence the last seven games, scoring at least 26 points in each contest and stabilizing the team to a 4-3 record in that span.

But Irving’s indefinite suspension from the team after promoting an anti-Semitic movie to his Twitter account is still a cloud hanging over the team, and Durant bristled at the notion that his teammate’s behavior was a reflection on him.

Kevin Durant has been shouldering a big load for the Nets with Kyrie Irving suspended

‘I’m not a leader? What the f–k does that mean?’ he asked in an interview with Bleacher Report.

‘A lot of people say I’m not a leader because I didn’t tell Kyrie to get vaccinated. Come on. Or I didn’t condemn Kyrie for leaving the team, going out and living his life. I’m not about to tell a grown-ass man what he can and can’t do with his own life and dissect his views or how he thinks about s–t.’

Irving’s current absence from the team – which was enforced after he shared the movie ‘Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America’ to his Twitter and declined to say whether he held any anti-Semitic beliefs – comes after a turbulent 2021-22 season as well.

Irving played just 29 regular season games last season after refusing to be vaccinated for COVID-19 and thus not complying with New York’s private sector mandate.

Irving was suspended for at least five games but it’s now been seven and counting

It was only until after that private ban was lifted that Irving could participate in home games at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center.

Yet Irving has not been the only source of stress for the Nets this year.

Following the team’s first-round sweep at the hands of the Celtics, Durant requested a trade from the team, and reportedly demanded Steve Nash and Sean Marks be fired later in the summer.

None of those demands were met at that time (though Nash was fired earlier this month after the team’s 2-5 start), but Durant has revealed his motives for requesting a change of scenery.

 ‘It wasn’t difficult at all to request a trade because it was about ball,’ he said.

‘I went to them and was like, ‘Yo, I don’t like how we are preparing. I don’t like shootarounds. I like practices. I need more. I want to work on more s–t. Hold me accountable. Get on my ass in film if that’s going to help you get on everybody else’s head. I want to do more closeouts. I want to work on more shell drills at practice.”  

‘I had some complaints in the summer, and my complaints were not about just me; it was about how we are moving as a unit. I want us to be respected out here in the basketball world,’ he continued.

Joe Tsai previously claimed Kyrie Irving ‘still has work to do’ before returning from the ban 

‘I don’t want players to look at us and say, ‘Oh man, these [expletive] are full of s–t. That’s not the type of team I want to be on.’ So when we’re all playing like s–t, you know the one person they’re going to look at. That’s why I requested a trade.’

While the current iteration of Brooklyn with no Irving and a hugely reduced version of Ben Simmons certainly has a ceiling, Durant insists he’s happy leading the scrappy group around him with Jacque Vaughn now the team’s permanent coach. 

‘It’s been fun grinding with these dudes. It’s been fun grinding with Jacque,’ he said Tuesday despite a blowout loss to the Kings.

‘It’s been fun trying to leverage myself to help everybody else get better. I’m learning the game more and seeing all types of crazy defenses every night. I never know how a team is going to guard me. This is all helping me mentally as a player to see things a little slower, playing a little slower.’

While the Nets still have a game in Portland to play to finish out their current road trip, it remains to be seen when – or if – Irving will rejoin the group.

Owner Joe Tsai, who was with the team earlier in the trip, said Irving ‘still has work to do’ when asked about the prospects of the guard returning.

The Nets will face the Blazers at 10pm ET on Thursday.