This season didn’t go the way the Brooklyn Nets expected. WithKyrie Irving ineligible for most of the campaign because of his refusal to get vaccinated, James Harden requesting a trade, and the Celtics sweeping them in the playoffs;it’s been a forgettable year for the Nets.
Even so, it seems that things couldget even worse. The championship-caliber roster they built years ago could suddenly fall apart this summer. Kyrie Irving has a player option but contract talks with Nets reportedly are at an impasse.
However, whatever the Nets or Kyrie had in mind wouldn’t matterif Kevin Durant decides to leave. According to Shams Charania of The Athletic, KD is considering leavingthe Nets, which would automatically influence the future of Kyrie in Brooklyn.
Rumor: Kevin Durant’s decision would influence Kyrie Irving’s future with Nets
“Sources: Kevin Durant is monitoring the Brooklyn Nets’ situation and considering options with his future. This now opens the path for Kyrie Irving to proceed on finding a new home via opt-in and trade,” Charania tweeted.
Nick Friedell of ESPN reported similar information a few days ago, claiming that the Nets wanted to talk to Durant before making any decisions regardingthe future of the organization. According to Friedell, if KD wantsIrving, Irving stays. If not, he leaves.
“So that is a literal multimillion dollar question here, not only in the next week as we figure out what Kyrie’s going to do with that player option, but moving forward because they just don’t know if that is a dynamic duo that will hold long-term,” Friedell said, via Bleacher Report. “They want to get a clear answer from Kevin. And we’ve talked about it for months: Everything in that Brooklyn organization revolves around Kevin Durant. If KD wants Kyrie back, he’ll be back. If KD signs off on ‘eh, I don’t know if it can work, I don’t know if I can trust him out there every night,’ then Kyrie may be elsewhere.”
The situation looks worse than it appeared. If KD decides to pack his bags, it would force the Netsto start from scratch and probably lose the contending status they hadover the last few years.