Former NBA point guard Eddie House has weighed in on the reports of Kevin Durant wanting Brooklyn Nets head coach Steve Nash fired.
Durant asked to be traded earlier in the offseason and, in a recent meeting with Nets owner Joe Tsai, said the organization needed to choose between him and the pairing of Nash and GM Sean Marks. The two-time Finals MVP didn’t get his wish but ended up staying anyway as he had very little leverage.
House, a champion with the Boston Celtics in 2008, was on The Odd Couple podcast when he noted that such situations aren’t new in the NBA, likening it to when LeBron James wanted Erik Spoelstra let go by the Miami Heat. Team president Pat Riley backed Spo, a decision he is yet to regret as the coach has led the team to five NBA Finals and two championships since.
“It’s different when you’re a coach. If you cannot get the superstar guy to buy into what you are doing, it is almost a failed cause,” House said in quotes transcribed by Sportskeeda.com.
“On every single team I’ve played on, even the team I played on with Bron, they were this close, they wanted Spo [Spoelstra] out but Pat was like, ‘Hell, no! That’s my guy and we gonna win with him.’ It took another leader to say, ‘No, this is how it goes.’ That’s Pat Riley I’m talking about.”
House played for nine teams over the course of his 11-year career. If he claims a player wanted a coach gone on every team he was with, such situations might be a lot more common than we think.
