The Brooklyn Nets’ dream of building a superteam with Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant, and James Harden once lit up the NBA with championship aspirations. But in a revealing livestream, Irving broke his silence on what he called a turning point for the franchise — the controversial trade that sent Harden to the Philadelphia 76ers in exchange for Ben Simmons.

“I’m gonna say that out loud… when that happened and we got Ben, a lot more pressure started to come in on our franchise,” Irving said during a recent session on his Twitch channel.

Irving has been increasingly vocal this offseason, revisiting his turbulent tenure with the Nets. But his comments about the Simmons-Harden trade cut deeper than nostalgia. According to him, the deal — struck midseason in 2022 — disrupted team chemistry and marked the beginning of Brooklyn’s unraveling.

“It wasn’t a fair trade at the outset, right? It was not at all,” Irving emphasized. “I didn’t feel like that was a fair trade.”

A Trade That Shifted the Balance

In February 2022, the Nets shocked the league by dealing away Harden, a former NBA MVP, for Simmons, Seth Curry, Andre Drummond, and draft picks. The decision was seen as a mutual parting, with Harden reportedly unhappy in Brooklyn.

At the time, Simmons hadn’t played a single game that season due to mental health concerns and a lingering back issue. The Nets were gambling on his eventual return to All-Star form, but it never materialized.

As Irving pointed out, the media narrative became increasingly difficult for Simmons to navigate.

“We have a situation that Ben is dealing with where everybody [was] trying to micromanage the spun narrative like he’s doing this, he’s doing that,” said Irving. “So it wasn’t fair.”

Brooklyn’s Brief High and Fast Fall

During the 2020–21 season, before the trade, Brooklyn had one of their best campaigns in decades. With Harden, Durant, and Irving all healthy, the team surged to the Eastern Conference Semifinals, barely missing the conference finals in a nail-biting series against the Milwaukee Bucks.

That series came down to Durant’s infamous toe-on-the-line shot — a potential game-winner that was ruled a two-pointer. Had it been a three, Brooklyn may have changed NBA history.

But Harden’s exit in the next season signaled the end of the “superteam” experiment. Simmons’ back injury kept him out for the rest of the 2021–22 season. And even when he returned, he was a shell of the three-time All-Star he once was with the 76ers.

Simmons Never Delivered

Simmons’ performance with the Nets was riddled with inconsistency, low confidence, and continued injury setbacks. After appearing in only 57 games over two seasons, the Brooklyn Nets made the decision to waive Simmons in 2024 — unable to find a trade partner due to his diminished value and hefty contract.

Irving’s comment underscores the frustration felt within the locker room. “Pressure” was not just from outside but was mounting internally as well. The franchise had lost Harden and gained an unplayable Simmons.

The Fallout

The decision to trade Harden ultimately dismantled the core Brooklyn had so carefully built. Durant followed Harden out the door, joining the Phoenix Suns. Irving himself was traded to the Dallas Mavericks in 2023.

In hindsight, Irving’s Twitch comments serve as a candid reminder of the Nets’ missed window.

“We went from title contenders to trying to hold the locker room together,” a former team staffer told Nets Wire anonymously last year. “It was a fast collapse.”

Irving’s stream didn’t just revisit the trade — it became a deeper reflection on how organizational pressure, media narratives, and unmet expectations converge in today’s NBA.

Kyrie Irving, now looking ahead to another season in Dallas with Luka Dončić, continues to reflect on lessons learned during Brooklyn’s rise and fall. As he recounted, “When you’re that close to a championship and it slips, it haunts you. And then when the team starts changing… you just know it’s not gonna be the same again.”

The Brooklyn Nets may have had all the pieces for a dynasty — but according to Irving, the Ben Simmons trade was the moment the puzzle broke.

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