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Kyrie Irving's two-year odyssey with the Brooklyn Nets has people in and out of the NBA wondering what his future in the league could look like this season and beyond. The 30-year-old all-star can't seem to stay out of the spotlight, with his latest controversy moving him closer to the exit door. Whether it is declining to take the COVID-19 vaccine, promoting an antisemitic documentary on his Twitter page (and then not apologizing for it for days) and constantly being out of the Nets lineup, Irving finds himself on an unprecedented career path. The Athletic's Sam Amick asked 11 NBA executives about the star's future and they aren't optimistic he can bounce back.
“I think Kyrie might not play in the NBA again,” one general manager told Amick.
“I think he’s a really challenging guy. Leaving aside whether he’s a good human, a bad human, whether he’s using his platform correctly or anything else, and even if I have zero morals and I’m just making a basketball evaluation, you need him to play. It doesn’t matter why someone can’t play, but how do you feel good that he’s gonna be available?
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“He doesn’t play basketball, and that’s for a guy who’s now probably the best on the court he’s ever been. But he’s getting to an age where, presumably, injuries are gonna get more frequent and everything else. This is the healthy version of him, too. So I think it’s really challenging. I guess there’s some chance he plays for the small midlevel or whatever, so maybe a team would do it. I just think it’s really challenging.”
Other general managers echoed a similar sentiment. Most of them stopped short of saying the NBA has seen Irving play his last NBA game but the questions of his character, availability and durability were all prominent points in their answers. Kyrie Irving has missed 128 of the 239 games Brooklyn has played since he joined the team.
