The talk of Kyrie Irving and his future with the Brooklyn Nets has been discussed to death in the sports media world and will continued to be talked about until Irving finally decides his long-term future. Yet, even with Kyrie deciding to opt-in to his $36.5M deal with the Nets this season, I’m not so sure he’ll be staying in NYC for long.
Kyrie Irving must be the most enigmatic NBA player in the past two decades. There has only been one person that has unlocked the mystery of how to get Kyrie Irving to play good and consistent basketball at the same time: LeBron James.
That 2016 Cleveland Cavaliers unlikely victory against the unstoppable Golden State Warriors was legendary.
Yet, ever since 2016, Kyrie’s career has been…problematic, to put it lightly. “Problematic? How is one of the Top-3 point guards (when healthy and happy) a problematic player? Every team would give away their right arm to get Kyrie on their team,” I hear fanatic Kyrie fans yelling at me.
All of that is true. Kyrie Irving IS one of the best point guards in the NBA. Every team WOULD give away their right arm (James Dolan and the Knicks would probably give away both arms) to get Kyrie playing for them. But he still has proven to be problematic because Kyrie seems to not want to play for any team.
He wants to play for himself and his friends.
He was that way in Boston, where the emergence of Jayson Tatum as Boston’s franchise star ruined his dreams of being the lone star of his own team (just like LeBron was to the 2016 Cavs). This was most evidently seen in that infamous Orlando game where Gordon Hayward ignored Kyrie and gave Jayson Tatum the chance for the final shot of the game.
Kyrie berated Hayward after the clock expired, then stormed off while Hayward was still explaining his actions.
That game, and everything which transpired afterwards, destroyed the Celtics locker room, causing Kyrie to leave Boston only two years after joining.
His time in Brooklyn has been quite similar. Giving up on his dream of being a lone franchise star, he convinced his long-time friend, Kevin Durant, to leave the all-powerful Warriors dynasty and join him in Brooklyn. After an injury-riddle first season for both players, things were looking up for Kyrie’s Brooklyn vision.
In the 2020/21 season, Kyrie convinced yet another NBA superstar, James Harden, to join him in Brooklyn to form a new dynasty in NYC. Everything seemed to be going great as the Nets made it to a Game 7 in the Second Round versus the Giannis-led Bucks, where they lost in overtime to the eventual NBA champions.
They must be bound for the title next year, right?
Well…no. In fact, the 2021/22 season destroyed everything. In wake of the COVID pandemic, the New York governor instated a vaccine mandate for all workers in the state of New York, including all sports teams.
The only issue was that Kyrie vehemently opposed the mandate and refused to get the shot, leading him to be banned from playing any of the Nets home games.
Of course, the loss of their starting point guard derailed the Nets season, causing James Harden to get traded to the 76ers, Kevin Durant to carry the burden of trying to get the Nets into the playoffs, and Kyrie’s “will he-won’t he” play media speculation to skyrocket.
Eventually, the mandate was lifted, and Kyrie played in the playoffs for the Nets, but they were swept by the Boston Celtics in the First Round.
Now, Kyrie has come to a crossroads. He wanted to get paid a max deal, though the Nets were unwilling to give one to a guy who has played in less than 50% of their games since he joined three years ago.
With him opting-in to the last year of his Nets’ deal, the opportunity to be traded to LeBron’s chaotic Lakers has never been greater. Personally, I think it would be best for both parties if Kyrie was traded to LA.
For Kyrie, the opportunity to join forces with LeBron and Anthony Davis is too great a chance to pass up. He would instantly turn the Lakers into NBA title contenders.
Meanwhile, the Nets would have the chance to finally be rid of Kyrie and his antics, along with offloading his monster contract. Sure, they’d probably have to pick up Russel Westbrook’s $47M contract in return, but he also only as one year left. Letting him walk after the year is over would free up tons of space for the Nets to build a team around KD down the line.
In the end, Kyrie will probably stick around in Brooklyn for the beginning of the year. But, as the contending teams become clearer, I’d bet money that Irving will be traded to one of them and finally be rid of his failed Brooklyn dynasty,
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