Getty Kyrie Irving #11 of the Brooklyn Nets
The Kyrie Irving situation with the Brooklyn Nets has gotten incredibly messy. A whirlwind of reports and rumors took over the NBA Draft. First it was that the franchise and its star point guard had reached an ‘impasse’ on contract negotiations. Trade rumors quickly followed involving Irving. The possibility that Irving will sign for less for another team gained traction after that. And on June 24, Adrian Wojnarowski added that discussions had grown ‘Acrimonious.’
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“Listen, people try to gain leverage. If you’re Kyrie Irving, you’re trying to go get the Nets to give you a longer-term deal with more guaranteed money than they want to give. The Nets are trying to go in the other direction—shorter deal, incentivized because he just hasn’t been on the floor as much as they’d like a couple of years.
“This is getting acrimonious, and I think that’s the concern when you look at not just Kyrie Irving’s future in Brooklyn, but Kevin Durant’s future and whether they can hold this thing together right now,” said Wojnarowski.
Despite reports, some still believe that Irving will be back in Brooklyn and that the ensuing drama is just for Irving to get back leverage in upcoming contract negotiations.
Others have voiced that it may be time for the Nets to move on from Irving and the drama that follows.
Antoine Walker: ‘Let Kyrie Walk’
Former NBA All-Star Antoine Walker was quick to sound off on what the Nets should do quickly after the reports came out. He insisted that the All-Star point guard might not be worth the trouble he brings.
“I let Kyrie walk out the door for nothing. You cannot take a chance on giving this guy a max deal. He has to prove that he wants to play basketball. I don’t want to be locked into a $200M deal and deal with this for the next 3-4 years.” Antione Walker said on the June 22 episode of First Things First.
His suggestion isn’t far off from reports that Brooklyn fears giving Irving a long-term extension in the scenario he may not fulfill all of the time on the contract.
“I let Kyrie walk out the door for nothing. You cannot take a chance on giving this guy a max deal. He has to prove that he wants to play basketball. I don’t want to be locked into a $200M deal and deal with this for the next 3-4 years.” — @WalkerAntoine8
“When Kyrie Irving plays, he is still one of the best in the game,” one Eastern Conference general manager told Sean Deveney. “But there are a lot of doubts about how committed he is to keep playing, how much he really wants to do this. If you are going to give someone that kind of money, you better be sure they’re going to put in the work. And you want to be protected if not.”
The report from Deveney certainly adds context to why Brooklyn is ‘unwilling’ to extend the guard long-term and why there is trouble around the negotiations. It is easy to understand Walker’s thought that the star is not worth the headache and they should let him walk, but with the possible fallout it could cause with Kevin Durant, you just can’t do that. The Nets need to get something back for their star point guard that will help appease their standout forward.