And the plot thickens.
New experiences out of Brooklyn present Kyrie Irving’s camp pushing again on the concept that he needs to be traded from the Nets and even displaying willingness from Irving to remain in Brooklyn if Kevin Durant secures the commerce he has requested.
Irving, who opted into the participant choice on the ultimate yr of his contract and is actually now working on a one-year deal value $37 million, has by no means needed to go away the Nets. He has merely sought the absolute best contract, which the Daily News first reported the Nets had been unwilling to provide him: the total five-year max contract extension value practically $250 million.
The News additionally first reported Irving’s camp’s request to search out sign-and-trade gives from different groups. Irving accepting the mid-level to affix the Los Angeles Lakers was by no means a sensible choice, The News reported.
The Nets, nevertheless, have been those trying to half methods with the star guard ever since normal supervisor Sean Marks took a public shot at Irving — twice in the identical week following Irving’s decree he needed to remain in Brooklyn long-term — saying the group needed gamers who can be there full-time and dedicated to the group. The Nets later instructed opposing groups they had been ready to lose each Durant and Irving by way of commerce this summer season. That message was then siphoned to ESPN’s Brian Windhorst, who reported it dwell on nationwide tv.
Quite frankly, the scenario in Brooklyn is a multitude.
So let’s take inventory:
We have a celebrity — fairly presumably probably the most gifted participant in all of basketball — who has formally requested a commerce, the largest blemish on a Nets franchise as soon as heralded for its tradition.
We have a hometown hero of kinds who the Nets ostracized for exercising his private (albeit controversial) proper to refuse the COVID-19 vaccine. That resolution tanked the Nets season, performed a task in James Harden requesting a commerce, derailed any hope of a championship final season and was the icing on the cake of a latest historical past of Irving prioritizing different issues above being obtainable for his group on the court docket.
We have a 3rd star in Ben Simmons, who hasn’t performed an NBA recreation in over a yr and is coming off again surgical procedure. Simmons’ standing as a Net — even when he’s been seen smiling with Marks and Steve Nash at Las Vegas Summer League — is in query as a result of one of the best Durant commerce packages function gamers like Bam Adebayo and Donovan Mitchell, who’re on rookie-scale extensions and thus are ineligible for the Nets to amass by way of commerce so long as Simmons (who can be on such a contract) is on the roster.
We nonetheless have Nash as head coach, and Nash’s teaching expertise — albeit in a single very tough season — didn’t earn him brownie factors or new followers. We have Nash’s so-called protege, Goran Dragic, declining to re-sign in Brooklyn and as a substitute becoming a member of the Chicago Bulls, taking a shot at the Nets on his way out the door by saying it was exhausting to play with Durant and Irving final season as a result of everybody was anxious about particular person performances. And we now have second-year scorer Cam Thomas apparently rolling his eyes when requested about Nash after a Summer League recreation.
Yet what we even have in Brooklyn is a roster that, if all events return to the Nets, may nonetheless rank as one of many deepest and most proficient in all of basketball. The Nets added T.J. Warren, Royce O’Neale and Edmond Sumner this offseason. They declined to make a contract provide to Bruce Brown, who signed a two-year, $13 million cope with the Denver Nuggets, and retained Nic Claxton on a two-year deal value $20 million. Patty Mills re-signed on a two-year, $14.5 million deal, and each Joe Harris and Seth Curry are nonetheless on the roster. The Nets additionally nonetheless have their taxpayer mid-level exception, which is value as much as a three-year deal value $20 million that may be break up between a number of gamers. You may be sure they want to use that cap house (or one other minimal deal) so as to add depth on the middle spot with Andre Drummond additionally signing in Chicago.
Yet the uncertainty surrounding Durant’s commerce request renders all the things else nugatory. If Durant leaves, so do the Nets’ championship hopes as a result of he’s the good equalizer, and it stays unclear if the connection between he and the Nets’ entrance workplace is salvageable. The News’ Stefan Bondy reported from Las Vegas that Durant’s camp and the Nets have resumed speaking. The News initially reported that Durant hadn’t spoken to the Nets entrance workplace whereas they labored by contract negotiations with Irving’s illustration.
And but the saga should proceed: There have to be some finality to this chapter, be it a Durant commerce or Durant rescinding his commerce request. And if Durant is traded and Irving stays on the roster, ostensibly to guide this Nets group “into tomorrow” alongside Simmons, two examples in latest historical past — Irving’s Boston Celtics and Simmons’ Philadelphia 76ers — present how flamable a scenario that may be.
Given the truth of Durant’s commerce request — the Nets wanting greater than the five-player, five-pick haul the Utah Jazz acquired for Rudy Gobert — there’s no telling how lengthy this stalemate can drag on. The solely factor that’s clear is Irving’s want to stay a Net, no matter whether or not or not Durant stays in Brooklyn, as a result of staying in Brooklyn makes all of the {dollars} and cents on this planet for Irving.
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Source: www.bostonherald.com