Days go by and one thing seems clear: the soap opera Kyrie Irving has definitely run aground. After a stretch in which, with promising comments from Kevin Durant included, it seemed that the point guard would end up getting vaccinated and removing a big problem from the Brooklyn Nets (and the NBA), the information came that things were going the opposite way, that it did not seem feasible to convince Kyrie to get vaccinated and that the player was willing to bear the consequences of his actions. Sports (you will not be able to play the Nets games on your court) and economic (one indent for each game you watch from home).
How could it be otherwise, the shadow of the handover flies over the Kyrie-Nets relationship. With two superstars like Kevin Durant and James Harden and plenty of wardrobe space, the Nets are considered to be able to win the title just like that, directly without Kyrie in the equation. And let’s not say if they added another valuable piece in an operation that included, in the starting square, a player with as much talent on the court as complex characters outside it. However, the option of a breakout is not possible right now. Or it does not seem like it, and it seems that there is consensus in the NBA environment in this regard.
On the one hand, Marc Stein is the one who goes the furthest since he points to that Kyrie Irving could even retire in case the Nets send him to another franchise. Raised in the New Jersey area, Kyrie is on his way to 30 years, has been in the NBA for a decade, has been a champion (with the Cavs in 2016) and accumulates $ 160 million in sports contracts alone. You have more than 70 other insured if you are still active this season (almost 35) and the next, for which you have a player option of more than 36. These rumors are a serious deterrent for anyone who wanted to go after Kyrie, and another matter that the owners see in any case with bad eyes, increasingly cornered by the positions of strength of the players. But, with the behavior Kyrie has shown off the slopes in recent years, all possibilities are on the table. This further complicates matters for the Nets, who know there isn’t a huge market for a player that teams would stick for if it relied solely on talent. But the issue of vaccination is tricky and there is also that player option that can allow Kyrie to go wherever she wants in the summer of 2022 leaving nothing at its former destination in return.
David Aldridge also wonders how much Kyrie wants to keep playing. Do not give be on the basketball courts, but to be part of the whole shed and the NBA gear. And there is something else: There is no right now, confirmed by Stein and Sam Amick, traces of a possible Kyrie Irving-Ben Simmons operation. One problem for another. The Sixers do not want to know anything about the complications Kyrie would drag and the lack of certainty about his future, and the Nets fear that Kevin Durant, a close friend of his, could feel betrayed if his team opens this path. Three-way trading options that include Damian Lillard are not, for now, realistic either. Lillard, in fact, has backed off a bit from his discomfort with the Blazers and wants to see the season begin with a strengthened team and a new coach on the bench, Chauncey Billups.