Brooklyn Nets headlines are being dominated by Kyrie Irving's vaccination status, the NBA's biggest bombshell story of the season so far. However, there are obviously other big storylines surrounding the 2021-22 title favorite, including another one involving Irving.

That would be contract extensions. Kevin Durant has already signed his extension. Will the Big Three stay together for the long haul? Irving and Harden are eligible for an extension, and there's one other key player to watch on the extension front.

3 Nets eligible for an extension

3) Nicolas Claxton, final year of his rookie contract

A season ago, Nicolas Claxton burst onto the scene by making highlight plays:

This season his role will probably be less clear, as there are some pretty big names in front of him on the depth chart in LaMarcus Aldridge, Paul Millsap, and Blake Griffin. The frontcourt as we last knew it by playoff time has been revamped, and it does leave us wondering how much burn Claxton might get.

In fact, it sounds like Claxton is wondering the same thing:

James Harden had some high praise for the athletic big recently:

But entering the final year of his three-year minimum salary he signed in 2019, there hasn't been an update on any extension:

Without any update on this situation, I'm currently setting my dial to “less likely than likely to receive an extension.” But it's entirely possible Claxton emerges as the team's best defensive player. If he's outplaying a couple of members of the frontcourt, GM Sean Marks might want to begin thinking more long-term here.

2) James Harden

Sean Marks missed the personal mark he'd set for getting James Harden and Kyrie Irving signed. Back in August, he predicted he'd have that finished by camp:

But here we are, and it's still not done. Just last week, he offered an update when he spoke with the media.

Per The Athletic's Alex Schiffer:

“We’ve had very positive conversations with both those guys, and whether it’s family members, people and so forth, I think it always helps to do these things in person,” Marks said. “With this being summer, we’re very cognizant of letting people have their own time away before we all get back into the swing of things here. We’re looking forward to sitting down with them over the course of the next week, two weeks, and furthering those discussions.”

For what it's worth, Harden shared a little more on Nets Media Day:

He added that he's taking his time and is in no rush. When asked if he might wait a year (when he's eligible to sign a five-year max instead of a four-year) he added it's not all about the money:

As of now, I've set my dial to “it's very close but he's probably going to sign an extension by mid-October,” though it's teetering a bit. Harden has until Oct. 18 officially to sign his extension. If he doesn't, he still doesn't pose a tremendous risk for changing teams, at least that's what it seems like.

If he does not do so by then, buckle up for some rival teams rolling out the red carpet to lure him away and a season's worth of “The Beard may take his talents to South Beach” rumors.

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But if they cannot come to terms, don't hit the panic button just yet. In that case, my hunch would be that Harden reconsidered how big that fifth year could grow to. For comparison, Kevin Durant is set to earn over $50M in his age-36 season. Harden would be in a similar ballpark if he waited until next summer. But I do think all sides have some incentive to get a deal done sooner than that.

We'll see, though, because his latest comments to ESPN's Malika Andrews are quite interesting:

1) Kyrie Irving

Much of what you read above regarding Harden applies here as well, except Irving has no timeline for his. Marks has discussed both potential extensions in the same update a few times. He spoke at Nets Media Day about how great it is to know Durant is signed and added that there are still other big decisions to go.

Coach Steve Nash, remains confident it will work out.

Per Brian Lewis of the New York Post: 

“I feel really positive about it,” Nash said. “I don’t know when. Just big picture, long term, I feel really positive about both of those guys being with us for the future.”

But while the Harden extension dragging a bit seems like it might be the player taking his time, this one is more of a question mark. Kyrie isn't currently eligible to even play games where the Nets play because New York requires players to be vaccinated in order to play home games. Even though Irving has asked for privacy on the matter, reports are that he is not vaccinated.

Would the team merrily offer him a max extension without some assurances he'd even play for them during home games this season? What's more, we just learned that Irving (and Andrew Wiggins) won't get paid if they miss NBA games due to local vaccine mandates:

The situation is at least conducive toward progress. The team is in San Diego, where everyone is eligible to practice. Team owners Joe and Clara Tsai are not far from where Nets training camp is being held. One would think there will be some attempts made out there to arrive upon agreement.

In this case, no news won't be good news. If training camp comes and goes with no developments made, we might begin to change our prediction a little bit. Every day we inch closer to Oct. 18 without an update on Harden's extension, the chances that he hits unrestricted free agency next summer increase just a little bit.

As for Irving, my hunch is that the ball would be in his court as soon as he were to take the vaccine. Imagine if your boss said, “Hey, buddy, if you take the vaccine we'll offer you $200M. And if you don't you'll lose a pile of money and even face some frustrating restrictions your buddies won't.”

On the other hand, a rival team could say, “Hey, look, you can ask for a trade or sign with us next summer and in our city you won't be required to be vaccinated.”

I won't venture a formal prediction on Kyrie Irving, except to say I predict the unexpected when it comes to him. A friend who is a Nets fan with zero sources has offered me this via text message: “KD will make sure Irving gets the shot sometime between now and November, and then they'll sign him long term.” It's not as solid as a Woj bomb, but it's the best I can offer for now.

Both Harden and Irving are entering the last guaranteed year on their existing deals. They each have a player option they're unlikely to exercise. For now, we wait.