Brooklyn is believed to be Kyrie Irving‘s top choice in free agency, but Nets officials aren’t unanimous in wanting him if they don’t sign Kevin Durant as well, according to Brian Lewis of The New York Post.
Adding Irving would mean giving up on restricted free agent D’Angelo Russell, who is a younger and less expensive option and who blossomed into a star during his two years in Brooklyn.
Irving is eligible for a four-year, $141MM contract with a starting salary of $32MM, while a max deal for Russell would pay him $117MM over four years, starting at $27MM. Russell also strongly wants to stay in Brooklyn, telling Lewis he hopes to be a “Net for life.”
“If we’re being completely honest, I enjoyed the team that we had this whole season,” Russell said. “I’m not going to say I didn’t enjoy our team and the pieces we had around.”
Lewis notes that some teams expected to pursue Irving have backed away because of the turmoil that surrounded him in Boston.
With Russell’s cap hold in place, the Nets have about $46MM in cap space, but that number grows to nearly $68MM if he is renounced, enough for two max offers. Lewis adds that if they don’t land Irving and Durant, then Sixers forward Tobias Harris and Celtics big man Al Horford could be considered for those deals.
:/
You know there’s no law that they have to pay them ALL the money right? 22 million for each is fair. Doesn’t matter, together they will flop. You heard it here first!
I wish I could convey over writing on the internet how hard I laughed at this
kyrie with his tail between his legs returns to the celtics to sign a max deal worth +40M than somewhere else.. hoped by zero celtic fans
Or maybe Kyrie joins Bron Bron and AD in Laker Land
Personally I wouldn’t touch Irving. He’s been a cancer to his last two teams.
Amen. Irving burns every bridge he’s ever been on. He’ll sign w/Nets and demand trade next year
Got a big ring on one of those fingers of his
I really feel sort of bad for Kyrie. If you listen to what Rozier said in two ESPN interviews and you read what Jackie MacMullan intimated in her article saying that certain young players had animosity towards the perceived preferential treatment management showed towards Hayward, then it appears that the kids, Rozier and likely Tatum and Brown feel a bit entitled. News flash. You guys were draft picks…cheap labor. The moment Ainge traded what was then considered “big” assets for Irving and $100 mil + for Hayward then that was the moment you knew that they were going to be the leaders of this team, and rightfully so. Injuries to both circumvented that and maybe cut into developing early trust and chemistry but it happens. Sure they tried to handle Hayward carefully and maybe stuck with him longer than maybe some think but ummm….why wouldn’t any coach do that for a player you’ve made that kind of investment in? If Kyrie has any blame it’s an inability to handle the drama the way a vet leader should. More than likely, he tried to ignore it and emotionally “cocooned” himself from it which is probably the opposite thing to do. It made him seem aloof and above the rest. Still, wasn’t a problem he created and I think Ainge and Stevens failed to nip this feeling of entitlement in the bud. I also, think that’s part of the reason Horford half-a$$ed tried to “negotiate” an extension knowing he really wanted to leave anyway. It’s not an indictment on Ainge’s player acquisitions but more an indictment on having too many redundant players and not enough meshing of the pieces into a unit. I don’t think it has anything to do with plays on the court. If you start the game with players “caught up in their feelings” then nothing good is going to happen out on to the court, especially when they lose games to teams they were expected to beat. In the games I watched it always seemed like the body language was awful among the most talented players. Bad passes and missed open shots resulted in rolling eyes, flaying wtf arms., etc. Interesting to see what happens going fwd.
Stevens should be rightly blamed for giving Hayward’s animated corpse all that run. He wasn’t good, should’ve been shelved
I don’t trust this story at all. Even without KD it makes absolute since, on and off the court, to sign Kyrie. NBA players know what the real deal is. Kyrie wasn’t a “cancer” until the Boston situation this year. His mistake was telling ppl he wanted to stay in Boston rather than saying what everyone else says. “We’ll wait until the off-season and go from there”.
It just amazes me that we have so much evidence of dysfunction but Celtic fans but this on Kyrie. Amazing.
Wow. You must work for Celtics. Hopefully, your book will come out soon and we can read firsthand, your take on it. Amazing is a good way to put it. You are AMAZING
My bad. I like to.. You know… Read stuff. Especially when I’m listening to a Celtic player talk about how he “sacrificed” his talent and “Deferred” to the Irving. Or how he was upset because the lack of minutes hurts his pursuit of a big contract. You know….FFFAAAAACTS. And then MacMullan echoes the same regarding Hayward. Facts….. Credible sources. See? Don’t you have some leper colony to steal from? Rather than you’re silly need to defend the Celtic brand.
Agreed
Let’s see. Kylie got mad when was drafted in Cleveland and then LeBron came back, meaning suddenly it wasn’t his team anymore, as if a team belongs to one of the players. He then grows a beard exactly like levron and becomes his mini me. He finally forces his way off a championship team. Then he wants to act like the Celtics trading for him suddenly means that’s his team, despite him doing nothing on the court to earn it. He arguably destroys the chemistry on a team that should of gone to the finals, talant wise. This guy has always been a cancer and is the epitome of what was/is wrong with this hero ball superstar mentality of the NBA. Teams like the warriors and spurs have gone the opposite direction and emphasize a team first win first mentality. Not saying those are the only 2, just the most obvious and publicized of them. Anyways, I would sign Kylie, he’s the next Thomas. Doesn’t even know what the word defense means.
HE GREW A BEARD PEOPLE
these ppl hear what they want to and ignore literally, what ppl say publicly. it’s like listening to Hannity defending Trump. completely ignore “facts”. like… what he said… on TV. or twitter. smh.
For years celtics won nothing thanks to the bad lbj… Now there was the bad Giannis :-(
Sad Story.
This year was a disaster… Danny ainge’s fault? NO. Cat Stevens’ fault? NO.
Is only kyrie’s fault…
That’s maybe why horford Will go away?
Or… Could be that Cat isn’t good in working with Champions? Kiss the albatross-hayward’s ass
Good luck Danny “the collector”, May your stupid picks give you a baby ring
Kyrie is going LA.
Love the Celtics slander around here. Warms my heart
That Nets team has a nice core. I don’t know why they would blow up all the gains they made last year to accommodate a second tier diva like kyrie. The guy cannot carry a team as the alpha. They’d be better off with their own guys and adding a Harris or Horford.
Kyrie wants out of Boston he is a cancer. Lebron wants out he is the goat.
The issues of signing just KI, I’m sure, have nothing to do with what happened in Boston. For that to be an issue for any other team, Ainge (Boston) would have to not want him back, and that’s not the case.
For the Nets, it’s the collateral damage of walking away from a guy (DR) who, while not the elite player KI is, just had a breakout year at 23 and, in the process, became the face of the franchise’s resurgence. Nets have to play out two scenarios going forward.
At the end of the day, I can’t imagine they won’t put the paper in front of him, if he has his pen out.
Nets should pass on KI/KD tandem. Too much drama with those two. Just keep their kids and add pieces if needed.
No way Kyrie and Horford end up on the same team again.