When Kyrie Irving signed with the Brooklyn Nets as a free agent in 2019, he brought his good buddy Kevin Durant with him. It was sort of a package deal for these two superstars. Apparently, though, Kyrie had one major LeBron James demand from Brooklyn before he agreed to join the team.
An anonymous source that is close to the situation recently told Steve Bulpett of heavy.com that Irving wanted to be the LeBron of the Nets. That is, he wanted the same level of influence James has with the Los Angeles Lakers in terms of roster decisions:
“When Kyrie signed as a free agent, he basically said, ‘I’ll come and I’ll bring Kevin Durant,'” said the unnamed source. “And in return, the Nets agreed that he could have a say in the roster decisions.
“It’s not uncommon at all for general managers to talk to their top players about possible trades and free agents. That’s just smart. You’re paying your guy big money, and you want him to be on board. Plus, your guy might have another view of a situation or a player that you haven’t considered. But with Kyrie, they talked this out beforehand. He wanted a situation like LeBron has — or like he thinks LeBron has.”
If you're the Nets and you have the opportunity to acquire both Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant at the same time, then it's hard to say no. Apparently, Brooklyn conceded to Kyrie's request. Whether or not this was the right decision, however, remains to be seen.
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