Never a dull day in the world of the Brooklyn Nets. Eight-time All-Star guard Kyrie Irving requested a trade Friday ahead of the Feb. 9 deadline. The request comes after Irving publically voiced his desire for a max contract extension with Brooklyn last week, applying pressure to the Nets front office in the process:
“The ball is in the Nets’ court to communicate now if their desire is the same,” the guard's agent told Bleacher Report.
Irving and Brooklyn did have negotiations on a contract extension prior to his requesting a trade, according to the Athletic's Shams Charania.
“They’ve had contract extension negotiations. A contract extension was offered to Irving that had some stipulations in it,” Charania said. “I'm told that his side was vehemently against any stipulations in an extension. He believes that he deserves a fully-guaranteed contract. He feels like a player of his caliber should not have stipulations in that deal.”
“There’s clearly a principle difference between Irving and the Nets. Whatever his principles are, whatever the Nets' principles are, they clearly do not align.”
Irving's breakdown in contract negotiations based on “stipulations” is a deja vu moment for Brooklyn. Charania reported last summer that the Nets offered Irving two and four-year max contracts with incentives, a proposal that the guard denied.
“The Nets and Shetellia Riley Irving worked through various proposals, including a two-year max extension that included incentives based on games played as well as a four-year max that included two years guaranteed and triggers for years three and four based on the games played in years one and two,” sources told Shams.
Kyrie Irving reportedly made a counter offer which the Nets declined, leading him to opt into the final year of his deal.
It was not surprising that Brooklyn was hesitant to tie the knot with the guard last summer. Irving missed over half of the prior season while refusing to comply with New York's workplace vaccine mandate. The team then suspended him for eight games earlier this year after his repeated refusal to apologize for posts linking to an antisemitic film.
The 30-year-old has been among the NBA's top guards since returning from the suspension, averaging 27.2 points, 5.1 rebounds and 5.3 assists on 49.5 percent shooting from the field and 39.9 percent from three. Irving was named an Eastern Conference All-Star starter alongside Kevin Durant, making Brooklyn the only team with a pair of teammates to be selected.
It's now unclear if Irving and Durant will ever play alongside one another again. The guard has not shared a list of preferred teams with the Nets, according to ESPN insider Adrian Wojnarowski. The Los Angeles Lakers are expected to be among the teams that explore a trade for Irving.
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