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In a dispute between Kyrie Irving and the Nets, his employer won. With Brooklyn unwilling to give him a long-term Max deal and Irving unable to get one elsewhere, he made up his mind and opted for the final year of his contract.
The Nets avoided the nuclear option of leaving Irving and potentially getting Kevin Durant to do the same. But just because the team hasn’t been pulled over the cliff doesn’t mean they aren’t still on the brink.
Even though Irving and Durant are both signed — Irving for next season for $36.5 million, Durant starting a four-year extension — one question remains: are they unhappy? Because Brooklyn learned the hard way what Boston already knew: an unhappy Irving is a dangerous Irving.
“I feel bad for those guys over there that they have to deal with him,” a league source told The Post.
Irving could go as late as next summer or sign an extension at any time, or even force his way via the trade. Will the Nets actually hold on to Irving, leaving him flayed or chastised for the first time?
From the moment Irving arrived, Brooklyn had complied with every previous request, from signing DeAndre Jordan to his personal furlough to filing a four-year deal for a maximum of $181 million to refusing to be vaccinated. And after telling Irving he couldn’t be a part-time player, they even capitulated to it.
“I’m not sure I would have handled it that way,” another league source told The Post. “They basically told him they didn’t trust him. What I understand: He is not trustworthy. But telling him he can’t be a part-time player will do [anger him]. I wouldn’t sign anyone he wants, but I just would [praise him] in the public. He needs that.”
If it looks from the outside as if the networks don’t trust him, then appearances aren’t deceptive. After watching him miss 130 games (including playoffs and play-ins), GM Sean Marks and owner Joe Tsai refused to give him the full max overtime he wanted.
Brooklyn and Irving’s agent/stepmother Shetellia Riley Irving exchanged proposals that included the kind of language previously reported in The Post: a four-year deal with the latter two, sparked by games played in the first two seasons , and a two-year extension with incentives based on games played. According to The Athletic, Irving’s camp made a short-term counteroffer that the Nets rejected.
Threatening to disappear in vain, Irving took advantage of the specter of Durant demanding a trade if he did. But after the Nets called his bluff and gave him permission to seek a sign-and-trade, Irving found his market lukewarm at best.
In the end, rather than taking a $30 million pay cut, Irving chose to reunite with LeBron James in LA. Instead, he is reunited with Durant in Brooklyn.
For now.
With Irving under contract, the Nets could still move him. It wouldn’t require a sign-and-trade, which would have severely capped any team that got him.
The problem is that there’s little demand for Irving, and it would be counterintuitive to move him for roleplaying. Although Durant Brooklyn never said he would ask if Irving was leaving, it would be unwise to upset him at this point. Durant is yet to have substantive discussions with Marks and Tsai on how to build this team going forward.
An unlucky Irving could be counterproductive to that end.
He can agree on an extension anytime until June 30, 2023, they would just have to wait until July 6 to sign it.
The All-Star posted video from North Dakota on Tuesday, his first comments since signing up.
“This is a great moment on my spiritual journey to be present enough to understand that I’m not doing any of this. At this point, I’m being pushed in certain directions,” Irving said, adding, “You can’t be afraid to make mistakes, privately or openly. You have to learn from the mistakes you make.”
He wasn’t sure what errors he was speaking. But one thing he’s learned is that he needs to earn the maximum contract he wants — whether it’s in Brooklyn or elsewhere.
