Just like the Daily News reported back on May 25, the Nets have been taking part in with hearth. And now, nearly a month later, they’re about to get burned.
We already know the Nets have been unwilling to present Kyrie Irving a long-term contract extension after he performed a grand complete of simply 103 regular-season video games in his first three seasons in Brooklyn, and after his determination to not get vaccinated towards COVID-19 ruined the Nets’ championship hopes final season.
We additionally already know Kevin Durant’s future is intrinsically tied to the choice Irving and the Nets make. If Irving and the Nets can’t come to an settlement that retains the celebrity guard in Brooklyn, Durant, who signed a four-year, $198M extension final summer time, is more likely to request a commerce from the franchise that did not hold his co-star on the town.
Now, based on ESPN, we all know the place Irving needs to be traded within the occasion he and the Nets can’t come to phrases: to any one of many Lakers, Clippers, Knicks, Heat, Mavs or 76ers. None of these groups have the cap area to signal Irving ought to he decline his participant choice by his June 29 deadline and take a look at free company. And solely two of these groups (the Lakers and Heat) have a star-caliber participant (Russell Westbrook and Kyle Lowry) the Nets might pair alongside Durant.
Which means we’ve reached the hazard zone: The Nets traded away the rights to all their picks by means of 2027, and Ben Simmons is coming off again surgical procedure and hasn’t performed basketball in a whole calendar 12 months. If the Nets can’t come to an settlement with Irving and Durant requests a commerce, it’s again to the 20- and 28-win seasons from which Brooklyn emerged. It’s again to ping-pong ball chasing within the lottery with picks that don’t belong to them. It’s again to irrelevance. It’s again to growing late-first spherical and second-round draft picks. It’s again to the jokes about having no followers, as a result of season-ticket holders are already threatening to boycott Nets video games due to a spike in ticket costs for a franchise that very nicely might not have the celebs it has peddled.
Or, the Nets might snap out of it. They might snap out of this ego journey they’ve and provides Irving the deal he needs. They might give him a four-year max deal, or a three-year take care of a games-played incentive that triggers assured cash in years 4 and 5. In May, a supply who requested anonymity due to the character of the negotiations advised The News the Nets needed Irving to choose into the ultimate 12 months of his contract value $36.5M as a way to “prove” he deserves a long-term deal. For a star participant with a really actual harm historical past, a one-year deal is a non-starter. It is unclear if the Nets have budged on the one-year stance and have provided extra years, however judging by reviews that the Nets and Irving have reached an “impasse” in contract negotiations, it’s truthful to imagine the contract size is the sticking level of the discussions.
The best-case situation for Brooklyn stays giving Irving a long-term deal and dwelling and dying with him and Durant chasing championships within the borough for the subsequent 4 years. Rarely in NBA historical past do two gamers as proficient as Irving and Durant be a part of forces of their primes. Even extra hardly ever does a franchise fumble these stars the best way the Nets are positioned if the entrance workplace doesn’t discover a option to retain Irving long-term.
It is sort of unimaginable to seek out an alternate actuality that offers the Nets equal or higher odds at successful a championship. And if the Nets play extra hardball and don’t comply with a sign-and-trade with a group of Irving’s liking, he can depart in free company and signal a max contract with a group that has cap area (the Spurs, Pistons, Magic and Pacers can clear sufficient room to signal Irving to a max deal) with an settlement that he’s traded elsewhere in change for draft property and younger gamers after the Dec. 15 restriction lifts.
Here’s a pleasant reminder: Even if Irving’s $36.5M comes off the books, the Nets nonetheless don’t have cap area to signal a max free agent, or any impression participant who instructions greater than the mid-level exception. It will probably be Durant and Simmons and function gamers – which is able to finally turn into simply Simmons and gamers who should be developed.
The different facet of that coin is a future that features Durant, Irving, Simmons and whichever further gamers the Nets really feel makes this group a contender. If Simmons is wholesome – and after a year-and-change away from basketball, he needs to be – the Nets might have the very best trio in all of basketball. They might use their three traded participant exceptions to amass impression gamers from different groups, then additionally use their taxpayer mid-level exception to make a major signing. The Daily News reported Wednesday the Nets are among the many groups fascinated with signing Durant’s good friend P.J. Tucker.
One factor’s for certain: Tucker isn’t coming to Brooklyn if Irving isn’t there, as a result of it’s turn into more and more clear that if Irving isn’t on the town, Durant may not be, both. And if Durant is gone, so is the whole lot the Nets constructed.
The championship aspirations. The devoted, rising fanbase. The perception that this group can get the job completed. Three years in, they haven’t.
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Source: www.bostonherald.com