NEW YORK — The clock on Kenny Atkinson’s time with the Brooklyn Nets started ticking the moment Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving arrived on his doorstep, when the franchise turned from afterthought to relevant.
The atmosphere Atkinson helped build — one that was apparently so attractive to Durant and Irving — seems like it played a part in his undoing. Whether he was fired or “mutually parting ways”, as the Nets news release states, is immaterial.
In a year that was nothing more than groundwork for the future, the meshing of Atkinson’s style with Durant and Irving was on trial.