Kevin Durant fights with Joel Embiid after he knocks him down
Tonight made it official, the Brooklyn Nets and Philadelphia 76ers are the next major rivalry in the NBA. Over the years, the Nets and 76ers have shared a complicated history. The Nets were actually an ABA team, best known as the New York Nets. Perennial contenders, Julius Erving kept the Nets in championship contention. When the Nets joined the NBA, they had to pay a fine to share New York City with the Knicks. To pay the fine, the Nets had to trade Julius Erving to the Sixers, leaving them the league’s worst team.
While the Nets immediately struggled, the Sixers managed to field competent teams until the 1990s. At that point, the Sixers bottomed out until the arrival of Allen Iverson. In 2001, Iverson led the Sixers to the NBA Finals for the first time since 1983. Again, they faced the Los Angeles Lakers, who were dominating their way to their second straight championship. The following year, the Nets landed Jason Kidd, who led the Nets to their only 50 win NBA season. With that, Kidd’s Nets went to the Finals, where they also lost to the Lakers, but they were swept.
The Jason Kidd era came to an abrupt end and the Nets have struggled to find an identity. In 2019, their fortunes changed, when Kyrie Irving joined the team. Later, the Nets hit the lotto, when Kevin Durant left the Golden State Warriors to join the Nets. By 2021, they also had James Harden, but the experiment only lasted a year. In 2021, the Nets lost to the Bucks. James Harden was traded to the Sixers, for Ben Simmons, and tonight was the first matchup. Already, Kevin Durant and Joel Embiid have had issues, but this time Embiid knocked KD to the ground. This led to a heated argument.
Kevin Durant fights with Joel Embiid after he knocks him down
