There were a lot of challenges and unforeseen circumstances that made coaching life harder on Nets coach Steve Nash than perhaps he ever expected. Kyrie Irving is in and out for “personal reasons.” Durant can only play in half the games. James Harden pulls a hamstring, an issue that never fully heals before he's traded away. Irving and vaccine mandates, not to mention the slew of other injuries and illnesses that have plagued the Nets over the last two seasons.

So typically when a team comes into a season as an NBA Finals favorite and instead finds themselves fighting and clawing just to make the playoffs, or these days, fighting for Play-In seeding, the head coach tends to gets canned. So will Steve Nash be fired if things go poorly this postseason? Would GM Sean Marks look for a more experienced signal caller this summer if the team loses in the Play-In or first round?

Well after the most recent victory vs. the Cleveland Cavaliers, it doesn't sound like Kevin Durant thinks so.

“I think he's done a great job,” Durant said. “The last two years he's been dealt a wild hand. Injuries, trades, disgruntled players, guys in and out the lineup, stuff that he can't control. And I felt like he handled it as best as he could. And I think it's on us as players to make his job easier. Guys have been doing a good job of just listening, responding well to Steve, we all know this whole thing everybody is developing every single day it's his first real opportunity as a coach, I think he's handled it all perfectly to be honest with you,” the Nets star continued.

So it doesn't sound like Nash getting much blame from his best player for some of the things that went wrong. Nor should he.

At practice recently, Durant actually said he felt his own knee injury, when he sprained an MCL back in Jan. was what “derailed” their season.

Related NewsArticle continues below
Why Nets’ cache of picks presents path for draft night trade
Why Nets’ cache of picks presents path for draft night trade
D'Angelo Russell DLO1, Way of Wade DLO1,
Nets’ D’Angelo Russell releases first signature shoe, the DLO1

Per Nick Friedell for ABCNews.go:

“To be honest, I feel like our season was derailed by my injury,” Durant said after Nets practice on Monday. “So I'm not looking at it like we're just not a good basketball team. It's like there wasn't a lot of continuity with me and Kyrie [Irving] out of the lineup, that's just what it is. When we're all on the floor together, I like what we got.”

That's the type of stuff Durant means. He didn't say anything about the pandemic or vaccination status specifically. But notice he did glance at Irving seated next to him in that clip above, when he said “guys in and out the lineup.” So you can read into that part if you like.

We can only wonder what might have been had Irving been vaccinated or if this team played in let's say New Jersey, or the NYC Mayor made a key change sooner. Or what if the Nets let Irving play part-time all along? Or what if Durant never got hurt? What about Joe Harris? What if Ben Simmons was ready to roll on March 10? There are so many what ifs and Steve Nash has been a soldier learning to be a head coach on the fly in the middle of it.

When Nash had a healthy squad they wrecked teams. It seemed like the Nets were on a course to do that to the Milwaukee Bucks during the Eastern Conference semis in 2021. Nobody expected them to build the type of wall they formed around Giannis to slow him down they way they did. And they did it with Blake Griffin who isn't even in the rotation today. Nash has certainly made the most of a tough situation before and it seems his key star supports him. That may be all he needs to get another shot next season no matter what happens these playoffs.

Will Durant feel the same way if they fell short in the first round to Miami or Milwaukee? That's the bigger question. But they'll hope they won't ever have to answer that one.