Getty Kevin Durant #7 and Kyrie Irving #11 of the Brooklyn Nets react during the second half against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden
Despite the NBA Finals ending, the NBA remains in the news around the clock. The transaction era has made the league important year-round. The Finals end and we quickly move on to trade rumors and free agent recruitments. Often times the rumors start before the finals are even over. The recent rumors taking the league by storm is with Kyrie Irving and the Brooklyn Nets.
Irving’s contract negotiation tension with the Nets has been looming dating back to the regular season. However, the drama escalated after the June 20 report from Shams Charania of The Athletic that the Nets and Irving’s negotiations have come to an ‘impasse’ with Brooklyn being unwilling to sign the star to a long-term deal.
Following that report the floodgates opened. Kyrie Irving was linked to multiple teams in trade rumors, Adrian Wojnarowski reported the six teams Kyrie would most like to play for, and some even speculated that the star point guard would be open to signing a $6 million contract with the Los Angeles Lakers for a LeBron James reunion. How much truth any of these rumors or news breaks have can be debated, but Irving is certainly adding to them with his social media behavior.
Kyrie Irving Cryptic Tweets
With a mountain of rumors and reports building Irving isn’t staying quiet, in fact his recent tweets are only adding fuel to the chaos.
“Living in The Age of No more secrets. No one can hide their hands anymore. Pay close attention, Everything is a chess move. The TRUTH vs THE LIE” Irving Tweeted.
Living in The Age of No more secrets.
No one can hide their hands anymore.
Pay close attention, Everything is a chess move.
The TRUTH vs THE LIE
Two minutes later Irving added,
“Find Your Tribe. It’s a war outside. Do not sugarcoat WTF is going on. Speak on everything you’re seeing and whenever you’re ready to unplug…. The TRUTH vs The LIE” via Twitter.
The timing is certainly interesting to tweet “everything is a chess move” and to “Find Your Tribe.” Irving has until June 29 to exercise his player option and become a free agent this offseason. He is expected to do so, but after that it is hard to predict what may happen.
Irving: Everything is a Chess Move
As always, the wording of the cryptic tweets are curious. Irving again proves to be extremely calculated. Some NBA Insiders believe that he is so calculated that he himself is being some of the recent news breaks. With language like “everything is a chess move” and “Do not sugarcoat WTF is going on. Speak on everything you’re seeing and whenever you’re ready to unplug,” it is hard not to wonder if that is true.
After news that the Nets don’t want to offer Irving a long-term extension broke it’s not outside of the realm of possibility the star may want to share his side in attempt to get leverage.
“They (the media) were used to character assassinate Kyrie Irving at first,” Amin Elhassan stated on the June 22 episode of Basketball Illuminati,. “But what Kyrie has now done, or his camp has done by leaking, we suspect, to Shams Charania perhaps possible alternate plans that don’t involve the Brooklyn Nets. He’s now using the media, teaming up with the media to put pressure on the Brooklyn Nets.”
Kyrie Irving definitely does appear to be approaching this like a chess game. What happens next and the tribe he finds is one thing teams all around the NBA are waiting to see how it falls out.