#Nets’ Durant, Irving can learn from LeBron James and Anthony Davis

As the Lakers prepared to play Game 2 of the NBA Finals Friday night, LeBron James was asked about the secret to his seamless success with Anthony Davis. The always-analytical star didn’t give a technical basketball answer. But he gave a real one.

“We’re not jealous of each other. That’s the best thing,” James said. “In professional sports, you have guys that join forces — you can call them alpha males; that’s what they call them. Two guys that have been dominant in a specific sport on their own respective teams — and they get together and they talk about how dominant they can be and they talk about this is going to be this and that.

“I believe jealousy creeps in a lot, and that’s the absolute contrary of what we are. We know who we are, we know what we’re about. We want the best, seriously, every single day, both on and off the floor, for one another. We’re just not jealous of one another.”

James has watched championship teams break up first-hand in Cleveland and Miami. He saw Kyrie Irving request a trade from the Cavaliers just a year removed from a title amid reports of a frosty relationship.

These are all lessons the Nets must learn.

Now James is on the precipice of a fourth ring, and it’s largely because the Lakers have kept envy out of their locker room. The Nets had better do the same.

“I’m not jealous of him, he’s not jealous of me. I think it shows on the court,” Davis said. “Obviously, that can always creep in when you’ve got two alpha males on the same team. But I think when you’ve got two guys who are very selfless and want to win as bad as both of us want to, the rest of it goes away and just takes care of itself. Jealousy has never been a thing on our team from anyone.”

Jealousy and just plain pettiness has broken up contenders before.

Remember messy rumors of Toni Braxton and the Mavericks? Shaq and Penny, then Shaq and Kobe? Or Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, then Draymond Green? And even James and Irving, before Irving’s nasty exit from Boston.

Now the Nets will bank on the friendship between Durant and Irving to keep the chemistry right. Irving was the first guest on the “ETCs with Kevin Durant” podcast, and praised the two-time Finals MVP as the first teammate he can trust as much as himself to make a game-winning shot.

Of course, people were quick to presume that was shade being thrown at James. Even James admitted to ESPN that he was aware of the comments. Irving took to social media to insist that wasn’t the case.

“Why must it always be brother against brother? Why? If I’m addressing anyone, I’ll say their name. Come on y’all, don’t listen to the false narratives,” Irving said in a social media video. “I’m not going to let it put me against anybody anymore at any point, because that’s not what it’s about.”

It’s about the Nets winning a title.

They’ve made the playoffs the past two years, and already had a solid core before the arrival of Durant and Irving. With so much talent next season, Spencer Dinwiddie said it’s more about chemistry than X’s and O’s.

“It’s all about how we come together and how we coalesce,” Dinwiddie said on House of Highlights’ “Through the Wire” podcast. Dinwiddie added the key is getting the players all on the same page around new coach Steve Nash, more than the other way around.

“It’s probably more important on the team, just because the team doesn’t have to necessarily, right?

Players can be wild cards sometimes. … We as players need to come together around him, and I think we will.”

Brian Keefe — who was a Thunder assistant when Durant was in Oklahoma City — has been identified as a potential Nets assistant by SNY.