Ending "chaotic" tenure, Nets star Irving gets trade to Dallas. Though "superteam" is over, Brooklyn may have upside. All eyes on remaining star Kevin Durant.
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| Feb. 4, 2023 |
The Brooklyn Nets' ill-fated drive for a superstar-driven superteam is now clearly over, albeit not without a serious chance at playoff contention.
It started when Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant in July 2019 chose Brooklyn as free agents, seeking a franchise they could help steer and, according to Irving, returning to the team of his New Jersey roots.
It was then seemingly bolstered when superstar James Harden wangled his way to the Nets. It was upended first by Harden's departure a year ago (in a trade for once-star Ben Simmons). And it was ended by the trade of Irving this week to the Dallas Mavericks.
Much drama
In between there were injuries, Irving's unexplained absences, Irving's refusal to get vaccinated (and partial return), and Irving's suspension from the team, after posting a link to an anti-Semitic film. Also: Irving's opting into a
one-year contract extension, after testing the waters for a sign-and-trade, and KD's request, then rescinded, for a trade.
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| Feb. 4, 2023 |
one-year contract extension, after testing the waters for a sign-and-trade, and KD's request, then rescinded, for a trade.
Harden had taken a shot at Irving, for the latter's unwillingness to get vaxxed and, more recently, Irving fired back at Harden, for not wanting to be a Net.
Irving had played in just 143 of the Nets’ 277 regular-season games. Durant and Irving played together just 74 games.
In the middle of the contretemps earlier this season, the Nets fired rookie coach Steve Nash, a former NBA superstar, and elevated--after first considering scandal-tinged ex-Boston Celtics coach Ime Udoka--deputy Jacque Vaughn, under which the Nets streaked to the league's top echolon, only to be slowed by Durant's injury.
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| Feb. 5, 2023 |
Unlike during the previous season's Durant injury, the team was competitive, thanks in part to Irving's dazzling play, though often without the injured, diminished Simmons--another confusing aspect of the whole drama. Both Irving and Durant are All-Star starters--the only two from a single team.
Yes, it's been a lot of drama, all chronicled day by day, moment by moment, tweet by tweet, by the sports press, with a level of detail--as with the Irving controversies--hardly applied to more meaningful civic issues.
Remember, you're just rooting for the clothes. Or: it's a business, man. The Nets have to fill seats.
Note that the tabloid headlines featured here are probably more negative than the mixed fan sentiment, as well as sentiment among Irving's peers.
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| Feb. 5, 2023 |
The bottom line for the Nets is unclear. By receiving solid starters like guard Spencer Dinwiddie (an ex-Net) and Dorian Finney-Smith, plus draft capital, the team is, in the words of TrueHoop analyst David Thorpe, "certainly better today. Their ceiling may not be as high, but they’ll be a better overall team on most nights."
As summarized by NetsDaily, the trade grades are:
- ESPN: Nets: B+; Mavericks: D
- Sports Illustrated: Nets: B+; Mavericks: C
- CBS Sports: Nets: C; Mavericks: B+
- The Athletic Nets: B (as long as Durant is happy); Mavericks: C+
- Sporting News: Nets: B-; Mavericks: B+
- Bleacher Report: Nets: A+; Mavericks: C
- USA Today: Brooklyn Nets: A-; Mavericks: B
Note: Irving's coach in Dallas is ex-Net Jason Kidd, controversial for his own reasons, who later returned, briefly, as the Nets coach.
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| Feb. 6, 2023 |
The question today, as shown in the fourth-day back pages (below) in the tabloids, is what Durant thinks. Is he now looking to leave?
Or is he encouraged by the new pieces, as well as the surprising stellar play of second-year guard Cam Thomas, who stepped up to score 91 points in two games, the second-youngest player ever to do that?
Another back story, which hasn't quite fully surfaced, regards the tension (and, perhaps, enmity) between Irving and Nets owner Joe Tsai, who reportedly--that word indicating unsourced coverage by one journalist, then amplified--refused to send the guard to his preferred destination, LeBron James' Los Angeles Lakers, out of spite.
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| Feb. 6, 2023 |
Another question, circulated more on Twitter than in the Sports pages--where the older white guy columnists have been more likely to emphasize Irving's toxicity--is whether Irving's departure was something of an "eff you" after Tsai's heavy-handed discipline earlier this season was seen as "putting [a young Black man] in his place."
Note that Irving's, um, controversial and contrarian stands--one nickname is "World B. Flat," a riff on the player World B. Free--are complemented by enormous generosity, with giving "at least $518,000 to 13 GoFundMe appeals since November," NetsDaily reported 1/25/23.
The paradox of Irving was expressed in a blind quote to CBS from an NBA General Manager:
Asked about Irving, the GM went on a minutes-long, unprompted soliloquy about all the things that come with Irving behind the scenes — a rapid-fire gossip fest of warning signs and diva behavior. "He's a mess," the GM told me. "He's a disaster in a locker room."So you'd avoid bringing him into your team if the chance arrived?
"No," he sighed. "No. I'd bring him in. He's too talented not to."
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| Feb. 6, 2023 |
Request surfaces
Kyrie Irving’s trade request throws the Nets into a familiar place: chaos, The Athletic's Alex Schiffer reported 2/3/23, quoting--natch--his colleague Shams Charania, who apparently has a good line to Irving's "camp."
Irving apparently was refused the four-year contract he had sought or, at least, one without performance/attendance clauses.
Irving apparently was refused the four-year contract he had sought or, at least, one without performance/attendance clauses.
It’s time for Nets to give Kyrie Irving what he wants: End the charade, New York Post columnist Mike Vaccaro commented 2/3/23. The Post chronicled his "chaotic tenure." The Post noted Irving's somewhat cryptic tweet:
To my Peers: JUST BE YOURSelf and GROW!
Keep people around who CELEBRATE YOU unconditionally and appreciates all of the hard work that gets put in.
Distance yourself from the folks who manipulate, hate, and hurt.
HélÃ
Nets Should Call Irving’s Bluff And Make Him Earn His Next Contract—For Whoever Wants That Headache, wrote Steve Lichtenstein, suggesting the Nets should keep Irving through the season, given
his incentive to play well. (I thought that was what would happen, given that the team, with KD and Kyrie, could contend for the champtionship.)
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| Feb. 7, 2023 |
his incentive to play well. (I thought that was what would happen, given that the team, with KD and Kyrie, could contend for the champtionship.)
As NetsDaily summarized it:
Irving is currently on an expiring $36.9 million contract. He is eligible for a four-year, $200 million extension which can be signed at any point during the season or in free agency.The aftermath
Nets face Kevin Durant crossroads with disastrous Kyrie Irving pairing over, the Post's Vaccaro opined 2/5/23, noting "the poignancy of the return of Spencer Dinwiddie," given that he was one of the diamond-in-the-rough players who rebuilt the team's reputation, under GM Sean Marks and Coach Kenny Atkinson, which then attracted the free agents--who then ensured Atkinson's departure.
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| Feb. 7, 2023 |
Inevitable Irving Trade Might Not End Nets’ Headaches As Deadline Approaches, suggesting another trade was in the offing.
Kevin Durant’s future with Nets now uncertain after Kyrie Irving trade, the Post's Brian Lewis wrote 2/5/23.
The Nets’ superstar era is over and the title window is closed, the Daily News's Kristian Winfield wrote, perhaps conclusorily, 2/5/23, suggesting "This situation is largely of Irving’s doing" and noting that "Simmons has not been not the star the Nets sold their fans."
The Athletic's Charania noted that the Nets declined a Lakers package for Russell Westbrook and two first-round picks, while the Nets wanted some young players as well.
With the way last season ended, he has to have reservations about his team’s chances. But Durant chose this path. KD decided to leave an ideal basketball situation with the Warriors to partner with Irving in Brooklyn. He chose Kyrie, despite all the risks and his track record. And he chose James Harden, despite the possibility he’d want to leave. Now, only KD remains.
If Durant asks to get out now, he’s quitting on the mess he created.
Kevin Durant can turn any Nets anger into a legacy-defining title, the Post's Ian O'Connor wrote 2/6/23, scolding:
The prospect of playing with Dinwiddie and this supercharged version of the 21-year-old Thomas, the second youngest player in NBA history (LeBron) to score at least 40 in back-to-back games, didn’t inspire Durant to stop after the game to talk to reporters waiting for him. He did talk to coach Jacque Vaughn about the game and said, “Great fight for our guys.”Vaughn not concerned about Durant’s commitment after Irving trade: ‘Kevin just wants to win’, wrote the Daily News's Winfield 2/6/23.
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