The Brooklyn Nets are the odds-on favorite to win the 2022 NBA championship. When healthy, they have the talent to beat any team in the league, including the defending champion Milwaukee Bucks.
One would think that any team who can boast all of that wouldn't be looking to make any blockbuster trades. Taking that one step further, ClutchPoints' Mike Cruz recently argued that the Nets trading Kyrie Irving would be the dumbest move of the offseason if it were to happen.
But for one reason or another (perhaps because we're all just simply bored with creating fake Ben Simmons trades) the Nets' seven-time All-Star is the latest star to find his name surfacing in trade rumors.
ESPN's Stephen A. Smith joined Frank Isola and Brian Scalabrine on SiriusXM NBA Radio recently to add some analysis. Smith was asked if there was any chance the Nets could look to move on from Kyrie Irving:
Are the Nets looking to move Kyrie Irving?
Stephen A. Smith tells Frank Isola and Brian Scalabrine what’s going on in Brooklyn #BrooklynTogether pic.twitter.com/IevbUbnoUj
— SiriusXM NBA Radio (@SiriusXMNBA) September 19, 2021
“The Brooklyn Nets were never enamored with taking [Irving] on to begin with. They did it because they knew that’s what Kevin Durant wanted. And Kevin Durant is so tight with Kyrie that when Kyrie said, ‘Yo man, Brooklyn’s the spot, not the New York Knicks,’ KD was like, ‘Cool.’”
Smith continued:
“Here’s the problem: Mentally, [Irving is] not all about basketball. The problem is it creates a disinterest in him playing basketball, particularly during the regular season. … And so because of that, in an ideal world, does any organization want to deal with that? No. But most would try because Kyrie is just that special. In the case of the Brooklyn Nets, [James] Harden and KD would be enough [to win a championship] but KD wouldn’t be happy if Kyrie walked away and it damn sure can't be because the Brooklyn Nets pushed him away. … So, it really is in Kyrie’s hands.”
Smith concluded by noting that Irving is a “bit bizarre.”
There's a lot to unpack here and the full context is worth considering. Last season, Irving missed seven games in January and another three in April for “personal reasons.”
Nets general manager Sean Marks did not deny Irving's absence was a disappointment to the team, per Forbes' Adam Zagoria:
“Without a doubt, I’m not going to shy away from it, without a doubt the organization is disappointed with not having any one of our players, in this particular case Kyrie, not amongst us, not in the trenches with us and so forth.”
So if there is any truth to what Stephen A. Smith is saying here, it stands to reason that the only motive to even consider trading Irving would be because the team truly fears him checking out mentally or even vanishing from the team during another critical juncture. There are few on-the-court basketball reasons to risk jeopardizing their standing as the title favorite. Even after Harden (hamstring) and Irving (ankle) were injured during the Eastern Conference Semifinals, Durant nearly KO'd the eventual champs without any superstar teammates.
If they were all healthy, it would have been curtains for the rest of the league.
Kevin Durant is very close with Irving, and Stephen A. Smith makes clear that Durant would not be happy if Irving “walked away,” and further it wouldn't fly at all with KD if the Nets moved on from Irving.
If that's the bottom line here, it should be good enough for Nets fans. The implication that the team landed both KD and Kyrie because of their friendship and that the same friendship might keep them both in town isn't a bad thing at all. That has worked out pretty well for a long-suffering fan base so far.
Marks recently indicated that the team had “very positive conversations” regarding contract extensions with Irving and Harden. If they sign Kyrie for the long haul, then all of this gossip will seem like much ado about nothing.
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