Again, the Networks they find themselves in a precarious situation with point guard Kyrie Irving. As the team and its enigmatic point guard attempt to find a way forward on a contract with the expiry of the looming player option, some NBA teams believe that if Irving walks or forces a trade, he could remove Kevin Durant from the franchise.
There are conflicting reports as to how hip-related Durant and Irving are, who joined Brooklyn at the same time in 2019. According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, some teams are cheering for Irving to walk, in the possibility that Durant may become available for an exchange .
“There are teams cheering for Irving to give up and get away from the Nets, believing it would give them a chance to put together commercial packages to acquire Durant,” he reports. “As much as Durant asks about the Nets, there is also the reality that a four-year contract will mean that he has little, if any, say in when or where he would trade. This would be the dream of a team of small markets, to rob a goliath of an MVP-level talent whose contractual circumstances would leave him with little choice but to play for them. “
Speculation about Irving’s future spiked on Monday when AtleticoShams Charania reported that he and the franchise had reached an “impasse” in their contract negotiations.
Irving has a $ 36.9 million player option for the 2022-23 season, with a June 29 deadline to exercise it or become a free agent. While there will likely be a solid market for him in free will, with the Lakers, Clippers and Knicks potentially involved according to Charania, he may not get the attention a player of his caliber usually receives after a fluctuating 2021–22. played only 29 regular season games, forced to miss for most of the season due to his status as an unvaccinated player against COVID-19. The Nets never gelled, James Harden forced a trade with the 76ers mid-season for Ben Simmons, who never dressed for the year, and the team was overwhelmed in the first round of the playoffs by the Celtics.
Earlier this month, Brian Lewis of the New York post reported that, despite the problems with Irving and the team’s public reluctance to commit to him long-term, the team likely would have signed him to a new deal rather than letting him go.
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On Wednesday, Lewis reported that the two sides are still working on a deal that would be “good for both of us [sides]. ” He reports that the longevity of the deal remains a sticking point, with Irving wanting a long-term deal and the Nets hesitating to make that kind of commitment with the guard, who has only played in 103 of the total 246 regular-season games since then. signed with the team.
There are also open questions about how close Durant and Irving remain close after a tumultuous 2021-22. ESPN’s Nick Friedell, who covered the Nets last season, questioned the relationship in a Sports Center appearance after the Charania report.
“At every turn publicly, [Kevin Durant] was there to support [Kyrie Irving]to say we need Kyrie, to say Kyrie can win a title with me here in Brooklyn, “he said, away Bleacher report. “But I can tell you I’ve been talking to the people in the organization for the past couple of weeks, when they finally sat down and talked to Kevin all summer, they’re trying to figure out if Kevin has seen what everyone else has seen.
“… The reason the whole season was sidetracked was because they couldn’t count on Kyrie and they didn’t know if he was going to be out there. And the problem with Kevin is that he wants to win, he wants to be loyal to his friend. But I was told that the relationship, although very close, is not always as close as it seems.
Whether that means Durant is willing to move forward with Ben Simmons and a rebuilt supporting cast in Brooklyn or that he will look to start over with a fourth franchise remains to be seen. The NBA will know more about how Irving’s contract situation will affect a week from now, when he has to make a decision on that player’s option.
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