Tag: Joe Tsai

Jay Williams explains how Joe Tsai should respond to Kevin Durant

Should the Brooklyn Nets cave to Kevin Durant’s reported demands?

In a meeting with Brooklyn Nets governor Joe Tsai, superstar Kevin Durant gave his organization an ultimatum: find a trade or fire embattled head coach Steve Nash and general manager Sean Marks.

Details of the meeting were reported on Monday, and set off a firestorm of social media activity across the NBA world. In a tweet, Tsai indicated that he’s standing behind his staff, writing that the front office and coaching staff “will make decisions in the best interest of the Brooklyn Nets.”

Should the Nets cave to Durant’s demands? According to ESPN’s Jay Williams, Tsai should stand firm and “call KD’s bluff,” hoping to find some middle ground with his superstar player.

“Just because you make an ultimatum doesn’t mean that I need to abide by it…. If I were Joe Tsai, in my opinion, I would call KD’s bluff. Because at the end of the day, I think KD loves the game of basketball, and I’m curious to see to what extent KD is willing to go to in order to not be on this basketball team. I might find middle ground with Steve Nash, to a degree, I might say ‘hey, let’s find a way to talk this out. Who are the better, other candidates you can bring to the table for Steve Nash?'”

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Joe Tsai appears to choose Steve Nash, Sean Marks over Kevin Durant

Brooklyn Nets governor Joe Tsai appears to choose Sean Marks and Steve Nash over Kevin Durant after their meeting.

The Kevin Durant saga continues for the Brooklyn Nets as superstar Kevin Durant met with team governor Joe Tsai out in London and delivered an ultimatum: either fire GM Sean Marks and coach Steve Nash or trade me.

It appears that Durant is definitely fed up with Nash and Marks as he is not happy with the direction the organization is going. Despite the Nets going out and bringing in really good pieces such as Royce O’Neale and TJ Warren, the former league MVP wants out of Brooklyn.

After the meeting between governor and superstar, Tsai took to Twitter with a clear message as it appears that he has chosen Marks and Nash over Durant. Tsai’s interests are focused on the Nets rather than whatever Durant wants.

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As this saga plays out, the Nets have to make a move quickly. Training camp is in roughly six weeks and then the preseason begins on Oct. 3 for Brooklyn. They have to make a decision on what they plan to do with Durant as well as their front office.

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NBA Twitter reacts to Kevin Durant’s demands for Joe Tsai

NBA fans and analysts react to Kevin Durant’s demands for Joe Tsai.

Monumental change is likely coming to the Brooklyn Nets’ organization, whether Kevin Durant stays or is finally traded.

The Athletic’s Shams Charania reported Monday that in a meeting with Nets governor Joe Tsai, Kevin Durant reiterated his desire to be traded – unless Tsai fires both head coach Steve Nash and general manager Sean Marks.

Nash had been heavily criticized by fans and by analysts in the media following a first-round sweep at the hands of the Celtics, though Durant has been publicly supportive of Nash to this point. Durant endorsed Nash as the right person to coach the Nets back in April, and said he was “proud of [Nash’s] passion for us.”

Marks, meanwhile, has served as Nets GM since 2016, and made headlines during the offseason by saying the Nets needed a culture change and to build around players “that want to be a part of something bigger than themselves.” To most, that was a direct shot at Nets guard Kyrie Irving.

Here’s what fans and analysts are saying about Durant’s demands:

Report: Kevin Durant plans to meet with Nets team owner Joe Tsai

Reports indicate that superstar Kevin Durant will be meeting with Brooklyn Nets owner Joe Tsai later this week.

While the market for Brooklyn Nets’ disgruntled superstar Kevin Durant is wide, it seems as if no teams are willing to pay the price for the former MVP.

While some teams have reportedly made offers, the Nets organization has been patient to not yet go forward with a trade package. Brooklyn wants to ensure that they are bringing in All-Star and young talent alongside some draft compensation, and they will wait to return value on Durant.

A source told basketball writer Steve Bulpett of Heavy Sports that Durant will be meeting with the Nets and New York Liberty owner soon:

“What I’m hearing is that KD is going to meet with the owner this week,” said the source. “He’s going to go directly to the owner, Joe Tsai, sometime this week. We’ll see how that works.”

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It’s up in the air as to whether or not the Nets will end up shipping Durant, but the team has made it clear that they will not move him until they get back valuable assets.

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Nets owner Joe Tsai ‘lost belief’ in Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving

Reports indicate that Brooklyn Nets owner Joe Tsai “lost his belief” in the Kevin Durant-Kyrie Irving experiment.

While the Kevin Durant-Kyrie Irving era is coming to a disappointing end, Brooklyn Nets owner Joe Tsai stopped believing in the experiment.

NBA insider Brian Windhorst of ESPN reports that Tsai, “lost his belief that this could work.” Windhorst even inferred that Tsai and company feel a breath of relief following Durant’s trade request.

“They [Durant and Irving] lost the billionaire, and that’s Joe Tsai. He lost his belief that this could work. He attempted through Sean Marks the General Manager to re-negotiate not just the contract of Kyrie Irving… The last straw to me was when Kyrie said, ‘see you in the fall.’ That was sort of a declaration of[by Irving], ‘alright I’m going to give you one more year, you’re going to get one more year.’ I think Durant saw the writing on the wall too… I actually think there’s is an immense sense of relief across that river in Brooklyn.”

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The WNBA punishing the Liberty for flying its players on chartered flights is just the league getting in its own way

This doesn’t make any sense

The WNBA is one of the best, most interesting sports leagues in the world right now.

Yet, its players aren’t treated that way. And, what’s more, when an owner within the league tries to give their team first-class treatment, they get punished.

That’s what happened to New York Liberty team owner Joe Tsai who was fined $500,000 for flying the Liberty via charter during the second half of last WNBA season, Sports Illustrated’s Howard Megdal reports.

The Liberty flew on chartered flights for five games last season — five that they all happened to lose, by the way. They were also given a trip to Napa, California during Labor Day weekend in which they also flew charter on.

Technically, per Megdal, those things are violations of the WNBA’s collective bargaining agreement.

WNBA teams are not allowed to fly charter because the league doesn’t want to foster a competitive disadvantage. Some teams say they cannot afford to pay for charter flights for their players.

The logic is that allowing one team to pay for a chartered flight while another can’t would give that team an advantage over the other. So, in essence, it’s same big market vs. small market argument we see throughout all of pro sports.

But the punishment is what makes this scenario strange. Not only were the Liberty levied the largest fine in league history, but the team was almost nixed, per Megdal.

“After someone alerted the WNBA to the Liberty’s violations, possible remedies floated by the league’s general counsel, Jamin Dershowitz, ranged from losing “every draft pick you have ever seen” to suspending ownership, even “grounds for termination of the franchise,” according to a Sept. 21, 2021, communication between the league and the Liberty reviewed by SI.”

Travel issues have been a problem for the W for essentially as long as the league has existed. Back in 2018, the Aces had to forfeit a game against the Mystics after 25 hours of travel.

In that same story, Mystics Head Coach Mike Thibault recalled a story from 2003 where the Connecticut Sun made it to a game against the Liberty just 52 minutes before tip-off because of travel issues.

The WNBA champion Chicago Sky expressed similar frustrations just last season during their series against the Connecticut Sun where the team was separated on commercial flights.

This is something the WNBA’s athletes constantly face despite the problem being relatively easy to solve. There are ways to do this and there’s lots of money flowing through the WNBA’s ownership groups — five of the league’s 12 owners also own NBA teams.

The Liberty even offered up a proposal to make it happen for the next 3 years, per Megadl, that was met with opposition from a majority of owners because once players got used to it, “there’d be no going back.”

You can’t make that up. Owners are so worried about a potential competitive disadvantage that they’d block a leaguewide improvement to make sure it doesn’t happen.

This is a league in its own way. The WNBA’s owners are cutting off the league’s nose to spite its face.

This completely validates everything Liz Cambage had been saying about the league and its collective bargaining agreement. There are owners out there who want to do better for their players. The WNBA just has to let them.

Clearly, that’s not happening. At least not anytime soon. And that’s a shame.

Nets owner Joe Tsai speaks out on the Kyrie Irving situation

Joe Tsai says Kyrie is “entitled” to his stance on vaccination, but he doesn’t personally understand it.

The Nets are sitting with a 3-3 record to begin the season, but the team’s offense has been struggling and Kevin Durant has already noted that Kyrie Irving is clearly missed.

Nets owner Joe Tsai sat down with NetsDaily and opened up on the conversations he’s had with Irving about his vaccination status, and the team’s outlook on his future with the organization. Tsai made sure to let fans know that he is in this for the long haul. “I have all the patience, he’s on the team right? He’s just not on the court.”

When asked if he tried convincing Irving to get the vaccine, Tsai admitted that he is not at all trying to impose his beliefs onto Irving. Though, Tsai says he doesn’t understand Irving’s stance.

“I didn’t want to impose my views — What I respected was the choice he made after investigating all the pro’s and con’s and the facts. People are entitled to their own opinion and choice. So that’s something I respect. But, you know, do I understand why he’s not doing it? Not really.”

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Joe Tsai, Jarrett Allen and DeAndre Jordan react to Joe Harris re-signing with Nets

Joe Harris is staying with the Brooklyn Nets for the foreseeable future after agreeing to a deal with the franchise on Friday.

Since joining the Brooklyn Nets four seasons ago, Joe Harris has turned into one of the NBA’s best 3-point shooters — at a time where long-range shooting is more important than ever.

Harris could’ve easily taken his talents elsewhere, but the sharpshooter decided to stay in Brooklyn, with Harris’ agency, Priority Sports, confirming reports that the wing had agreed on a deal with the Nets.

Adrian Wojnarowski reported that Harris’ deal was worth $75 million, and he is set to call Brooklyn home for another four years.

Among those excited to see Harris re-sign with the franchise was none other than Nets governor Joe Tsai, who weighed in on Twitter:

Nets big man Jarrett Allen was also excited to see Harris earn the huge deal.

Brooklyn’s other big man DeAndre Jordan was pumped for Harris, too.

Even former Nets big man Demarre Carroll made sure to congratulate Harris.

RELATED: Garrett Temple agrees to one-year deal with Bulls

RELATED: Sean Marks having honest conversations with Nets players in midst of James Harden rumors

NBA 2020-21 salary cap, luxury tax agreement includes amendment that benefits Nets

NBA free agency finally has a start date, and it comes shortly after the 2020 NBA draft.

Less than a week after the NBPA tentatively agreed upon NBA’s proposal for a 72-game regular season that would start on December 22, the league announced the negotiations had been officially agreed upon in full as of midnight on Tuesday.

In addition to the start date and the season length, the NBPA and NBA agreed the salary cap for 2020-21 will be the same as it was in 2019-20 at $109,140 million, as will the $132,627 million luxury tax level.

More importantly for the Brooklyn Nets, the NBA and NBPA agreed that in the event player compensation were to exceed the players’ designated share in any season, necessary salary reduction beyond the standard 10% escrow would be spread across that season and potentially beyond the following two seasons — with a 20% salary reduction in any season being the absolute maximum.

While Nets general manager Sean Marks was still expected to have money to spend on Joe Harris, this adds a little monetary relief for Nets governor Joe Tsai across the board.

ESPN‘s Adrian Wojnarowski and Tim Bontemps are also reporting another way in which the NBA is trying to “ease the tax burdens of teams that had been planning on the salary cap and luxury tax continuing to steadily rise.”

“…the NBA will reduce the luxury tax bill for teams at the end of the 2021 season by the percentage amount that the league’s Basketball Related Income declines from initial projections.”

The NBA and NBPA also free agency negotiations can officially start on November 20 at 6 p.m. EST and signings can happen at midnight EST on November 22.

Nets donate 14k pounds of food to feed over 30k New Yorkers

The Brooklyn Nets continue to give back to their community, recently donating a significant amount of food.

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The Brooklyn Nets continue to go the extra mile for those in their community.

On Saturday, the team announced a major donation that hade been made earlier in the week, tweeting:

This week we donated 14,000 pounds of food from our arena to City Harvest, Food Bank for New York City, and The Campaign Against Hunger. Since the beginning of the pandemic, we have been honored to work beside these organizations and together feed more than 30,000 New Yorkers.

Earlier in the month, it was reported Nets governor Joe Tsai had decided to pay the part-time Barclays Center staff through the end of the year, which would cost him an estimated $10 million.

Like Tsai, Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant and DeAndre Jordan have also lent a helping hand throughout the pandemic, providing either money or food for those in need.

RELATED: Kyrie Irving facilitates another donation to help with hunger relief

RELATED: Kevin Durant, DeAndre Jordan helping those in need amid COVID outbreak