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Nets, Kyrie Irving Reportedly At Impasse In Talks

June 20th, 2022 at 8:32am CST by Luke Adams

Conversations between the Nets and Kyrie Irving about his future have “gone stagnant,” according to Shams Charania of The Athletic, who hears from sources that the two sides are currently at an impasse. The deadlock could prompt the star guard to consider other destinations, Charania reports.

Irving said after the Nets’ season ended that he didn’t plan to go anywhere, and a report just two weeks ago suggested he was likely to remain in Brooklyn. However, negotiations between his camp and the Nets were always expected to be challenging, given that his stock has dipped a little in recent years and he no longer seems like a good bet to land a fully guaranteed long-term maximum salary contract.

Irving has been as productive as ever when he has played for the Nets over the last three seasons, averaging 27.1 points, 6.0 assists, and 4.7 rebounds per game on .490/.406/.920 shooting. However, injuries and personal decisions have limited him to just 103 appearances out of a possible 226 regular season games during that time and have raised questions about his reliability going forward.

Charania writes that the Nets and Irving have “serious work to do” to resolve his contract situation and ensure he remains in Brooklyn. If Kyrie does consider heading elsewhere, the Lakers, Clippers, and Knicks are expected to be among his suitors, sources tell The Athletic.

As Charania observes, the Lakers and Clippers project to be over the tax apron for the 2022/23 season, likely ruling out the possibility of a sign-and-trade. So if he wants to go to either L.A. team, Irving would probably have to pick up his $36.9MM player option with an understanding that a trade is coming. The Knicks don’t project to have cap room, but would have the cap flexibility to pursue Irving via sign-and-trade if he declines his option to become an unrestricted free agent.

The Clippers and Knicks are in a better position to make a viable trade offer for Irving than the Lakers, who would almost certainly have to include Russell Westbrook‘s $47MM+ expiring deal in any package for salary-matching purposes.

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Nets Notes: Simmons, Irving, Durant, Workout

June 8th, 2022 at 8:41pm CST by Arthur Hill

Nets guard Ben Simmons has made a significant step following back surgery in early May, reports Brian Lewis of The New York Post. Simmons has moved from the recovery phase to the rehab phase and remains on schedule to be ready well before the start of training camp in September, a source close to the player tells Lewis.

“Microdiscectomy is probably one of the best procedures we do. Most patients recover really fast,” said Dr. Neel Anand, director of spine trauma at Cedars-Sinai Spine Center. “Ten days to six weeks, rehabbing. Six weeks to three months, pretty much getting back to the field. And then three months I’d say most athletes will be back on the field, back doing everything.”

The Nets are hoping Simmons can become the versatile defender they were missing during a first-round sweep by the Celtics. He was the centerpiece of the James Harden trade in February, but wasn’t able to return to the court in time for the postseason.

There’s more from Brooklyn:

  • In the same piece, Lewis shoots down a rumor that Nets guard Kyrie Irving has changed his representation. Irving, who faces an offseason decision on his player option for 2022/23, will continue to be represented by his stepmother, Shetellia Riley Irving. Lewis states that there was an erroneous report that Irving had signed with Donda Sports, which was founded by Kanye West.
  • TNT commentator Charles Barkley believes Kevin Durant‘s legacy has been tarnished somewhat by Brooklyn’s early exit and Golden State’s run to the finals, per Stefan Bondy of The New York Daily News. Durant has long been criticized for joining a championship-level Warriors team where he won his only two rings. “You know it has an effect on his legacy,” Barkley said during a public appearance Wednesday. “If you go back and look, and I talked about it on the [TNT] show, LeBron [James] has said it before — he said, ‘I had to win a championship without Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.’ And Kobe’s said it before, Rest in Peace, ‘I’ve got to win a championship without Shaq.’ So Kevin and Kyrie, before we elevate them among the old guys, they’re not going to get the credit they deserve until they win a championship by themselves and be The Guy.”
  • The Nets currently don’t have a pick in this year’s draft, but they hosted six players for a workout today, tweets Adam Zagoria of Zagsblog. On hand were Vanderbilt’s Scotty Pippen Jr., Kentucky’s Davion Mintz, Michigan State’s Marcus Bingham Jr., Providence’s Justin Minaya, Texas Tech’s Davion Warren and Fordham’s Chuba Ohams.
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Kyrie Irving Considered Likely To Remain With Nets

June 7th, 2022 at 7:46am CST by Luke Adams

Nets point guard Kyrie Irving has the ability to opt out of his contract and depart in free agency this summer, but all indications “strongly” point toward Irving remaining in Brooklyn, according to Brian Lewis of The New York Post.

According to Lewis, both Nets and league sources say Irving is more likely to sign a contract extension than to explore free agency.

If he wants to stay with the Nets, Kyrie could either pick up his player option and then tack additional years onto it with a contract extension, or decline the option to sign a brand-new deal with the team — it’s unclear if Lewis’ wording means the former scenario is more likely than the latter, or if he’s simply using the term “extension” as a catch-all for a new contract with the Nets.

Either way, Lewis says the sentiment around the NBA is that Irving isn’t going anywhere. The seven-time All-Star is still close friends with Kevin Durant and has a good relationship with Nets owners Joe Tsai and Clara Wu Tsai. Irving spoke at the end of Brooklyn’s season about “managing this franchise together” going forward along with Durant, Tsai, and general manager Sean Marks.

Even if Irving is a good bet to stick with the Nets, it remains to be seen exactly what his next contract will look like. Lewis spoke to a pair of cap experts – ESPN’s Bobby Marks and an unnamed source – about the possible structure of Irving’s next contract and both experts suggested that an agreement that the club could have interest in negotiating incentives related to games played, given Kyrie’s history of missing time for both personal and injury reasons.

“I agree most (likely) he comes back,”the anonymous source told Lewis. “As for a contract, I’d probably try to get him back at an annual rate at what he is currently making. They could give him a contract below the max with unlikely incentives that allows him to reach the max. Unlikely incentives are capped at 15 percent of a player’s salary in a given year. So they can make his salary 15 percent less than the max, then give incentives to allow him to get the full max.”

In Marks’ view, a three-year max contract that would become fully guaranteed in year three if Kyrie plays at least 60 games in each of the first two seasons might make sense for both sides.

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Atlantic Notes: Nets, Irving, Raptors, Siakam, Knicks

May 28th, 2022 at 2:47pm CST by JD Shaw

Rival teams believe the Nets would be open to making a sign-and-trade deal involving Kyrie Irving this offseason, Ian Begley of SNY.tv writes. Irving could turn down a $36.5MM player option to enter unrestricted free agency.

The 30-year-old appeared in 29 games this season, averaging 27.4 points, 4.4 rebounds and 5.8 assists per contest. He missed much of the season because of New York City’s vaccine requirement, which prevented the team from building needed chemistry.

Finalizing a sign-and-trade agreement involving Irving would be challenging, given that his value isn’t at its peak right now. Whether or not Kyrie is back, the Nets intend to target high-character players this offseason to complement Kevin Durant, according to Begley.

Here are some other notes from the Atlantic:

  • Blake Murphy of Sportsnet.ca puts together a Raptors free agency primer, highlighting the team’s free agents, draft picks and general outlook. Toronto is coming off a season in which it finished with the fifth-best record in the Eastern Conference at 48-34. The team lost in six games to Philadelphia in the first round of the playoffs.
  • Raptors star Pascal Siakam discussed receiving All-NBA honors for the second straight season, as relayed by Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca. Siakam made the All-NBA Third Team this season, averaging 22.8 points and 8.5 rebounds per game. “Going through what I’ve been through as a person and as a basketball player it makes me grow,” Siakam said. “And knowing how fast things can change, I also understand the responsibility that I have to keep the pressure on, keep my foot on the gas, knowing that there’s always [new] levels I can get to.”
  • Fred Katz of The Athletic examines the Knicks’ offseason in his latest mailbag. New York missed the playoffs this season after an impressive 2020/21 campaign. The team owns the No. 11 pick in the draft and has center Mitchell Robinson entering unrestricted free agency.
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Community Shootaround: Kyrie Irving’s Future

May 25th, 2022 at 11:33am CST by Luke Adams

Since joining the Nets as a free agent in 2019, Kyrie Irving has played in a total of 103 games for the team. He missed 52 of 72 games in his first year in Brooklyn as a result of a shoulder injury, missed 18 of 72 in his second year, primarily due to personal issues, and then missed 53 of 82 this past season, largely due to his COVID-19 vaccination status.

Irving’s inconsistent availability, which has stemmed both from injury issues and personal choices, is a large reason why the Nets face a difficult decision on him this offseason, when he’s eligible for unrestricted free agency if he turns down his $36.9MM option for 2022/23.

Irving has played at his usual All-Star level when he’s been healthy, averaging an impressive 27.1 PPG, 6.0 APG, and 4.7 RPG on .490/.406/.920 shooting in those 103 appearances (35.3 MPG) he has made with the Nets. But he’s on the wrong side of 30 and his unpredictable personality makes him a difficult player to invest in long-term, especially at a maximum-salary rate.

In fact, Kristian Winfield of The New York Daily News cites a source familiar with the Nets’ thought process who says the team is hesitant – if not altogether unwilling – to give Irving a long-term max deal.

Winfield acknowledges that a one-year contract would likely be unacceptable for Irving, who will be seeking long-term security this offseason, so if he’s going to remain in Brooklyn, the two sides may have to reach some sort of compromise.

When asked about Irving’s future after the end of the Nets’ season, general manager Sean Marks offered no guarantees, talking first about wanting players who are both “selfless” and “available,” then later saying the team needed to talk to Kyrie’s camp to see if it’s “the right fit for both sides.”

Still, it seems likely that Brooklyn would move forward with Irving as long as the team gets some assurances about his commitment to the franchise. For his part, Kyrie has said he doesn’t plan to go anywhere.

If Irving opts out and seeks a new contract, he’d be eligible for a five-year deal worth up to a projected $247.66MM with the Nets. If he were to pick up his option and negotiate an extension from there, his maximum earnings going forward would be a little lower, but he could still get a deal that pays him a total of $232.75MM, plus possible incentives, over the next five years.

Irving could get four years and $183.61MM from another team, but it’s unclear what sort of a market there will be for him outside of Brooklyn, since few contenders have significant cap flexibility and many will be wary of a long-term investment in the seven-time All-Star.

When Irving signed his initial contract with the Nets, the deal technically fell short of the maximum salary, with a series of eight incentives available each season that would increase Kyrie’s salary to the max if he achieved all of them. That structure was designed at the time to allow Brooklyn to maximize its available cap room in 2019, but perhaps a similar format could work for both sides this time around, since incentives tied to total minutes or games played would give the club some protection in seasons when Irving misses time.

Of course, it’s also possible that the Nets could convince Irving to accept a contract further below the max. Brooklyn was his top choice in free agency in 2019 and he hasn’t shown any desire to leave — he also exhibited a willingness to sacrifice some money last season, when his decision not to get vaccinated resulted in hefty per-game fines.

We want to know what you think. Will Irving stick with the Nets? If so, he will he opt out to sign a new deal, opt in and sign an extension, or opt in without an extension? Could he end up playing elsewhere in 2022/23? Wherever he ends up, will his next contract be worth the max?

Head to the comment section below to weigh in with your two cents on Irving’s future.

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2021/2022 All-NBA Teams Announced

May 24th, 2022 at 7:55pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

The 2021/22 All-NBA teams have officially been announced by the NBA. For the fourth straight season, Bucks All-Star forward Giannis Antetokounmpo was unanimously selected to the All-NBA First Team by a voter panel of 100 media members. Antetokounmpo, 27, is making his sixth All-NBA team overall.

Antetokounmpo, reigning MVP Nuggets center Nikola Jokic, and Mavericks point guard Luka Doncic received the most votes. Suns All-Star shooting guard Devin Booker and Sixers All-Star center Joel Embiid rounded out the list of top five vote-getters. Because the All-NBA teams, unlike the All-Star squads, require just one center per team, Embiid was relegated to an All-NBA Second Team placing.

Below is a list of the three All-NBA teams. Vote tallies are listed in parentheses next to player names. Five points were awarded to players for a First Team Vote, three points netted for a Second Team vote, and one for a Third Team vote. Antetokounmpo earned a perfect 500 points.

All-NBA First Team

All-NBA Second Team

All-NBA Third Team

Jazz center Rudy Gobert and shooting guard Donovan Mitchell, Heat center Bam Adebayo and small forward Jimmy Butler, Celtics swingman Jaylen Brown, Bucks guards Khris Middleton and Jrue Holiday, Grizzlies shooting guard Desmond Bane, Suns small forward Mikal Bridges, Spurs point guard Dejounte Murray, and Raptors point guard Fred VanVleet all received All-NBA votes. Surprisingly, Nets point guard Kyrie Irving, who played in just 29 games this season, also received a single vote.

As we previously outlined, the All-NBA selections come with significant financial ramifications. As a result of being named to All-NBA teams, Booker and Towns have become eligible for super-max extensions that would begin in 2024/25. If they’re signed this offseason, those deals would be for four years and would start at 35% of the ’24/25 cap. According to Bobby Marks of ESPN (via Twitter), they currently project to be worth $211MM apiece.

Young’s five-year contract extension, which was signed last August and will go into effect in 2022/23, will now be worth 30% of next season’s cap instead of 25% by virtue of his All-NBA selection. Based on a projected $122MM cap, that means it’ll be worth about $212MM instead of $177MM.

Jokic had already met the super-max requirements prior to this announcement, since he won last year’s MVP award — he’s eligible to sign a five-year, super-max extension this offseason and has said he plans to do so. Doncic, who signed a maximum-salary contract extension last summer, also previously met the super-max criteria by earning All-NBA nods in 2020 and 2021.

Notable players who are not eligible this offseason for super-max deals include Morant and Bulls shooting guard Zach LaVine. As Marks tweets, Morant needs to make the All-NBA team again in 2023 to qualify for a starting salary worth 30% of the cap (instead of 25%) on his next deal.

LaVine, a free agent this offseason, would have been eligible to earn up to 35% of next season’s cap from the Bulls if he had made an All-NBA team, but will instead be able to earn no more than 30% of the ’22/23 cap on his next contract.

With their inclusions, Morant, Booker, and Young are making their All-NBA team debuts. Meanwhile, on the other side of the NBA aging curve, two 37-year-old veterans further cemented their Hall of Fame credentials during the 2021/22 season. James made his 18th All-NBA team, while Paul was named to his 11th All-NBA team.

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New York Notes: Brunson, Stoudemire, Baldwin, Sotto

May 21st, 2022 at 11:57am CST by Dana Gauruder

The Knicks’ top executive, Leon Rose, needs to go all out this summer to sign free agent Jalen Brunson, Mike Vaccaro of the New York Post opines. The Knicks settled for Kemba Walker last summer instead of engaging in an all-out bidding war for Fred VanVleet. The same mistake can’t be made this time around, in Vaccaro’s view, so Rose must figure out a way to clear more cap space and give Brunson a competitive offer. Vaccaro also notes Brunson’s father, Rick Brunson, was Rose’s first ever client as a player agent.

We have more on the New York teams:

  • Amar’e Stoudemire clarified comments he made on ESPN shows regarding Kyrie Irving and the Nets organization in an Instagram post (hat tip to Chris Milholen of NetsDaily.com). Stoudemire told coach Steve Nash he was leaving his post as a player development coach due to his religious obligations prior to his TV appearances and has no issue with Nash or GM Sean Marks. He also said he wasn’t trying to blast Irving when he said Irving “hurt us” due to his lack of availability during the season. “You’re not going to turn me against Kyrie. You’re not going to turn me against the Nets. You’re not going to turn me against anyone. So you can forget about it,” Stoudemire said.
  • The Knicks have quietly added Vince Baldwin — a longtime Nike talent scout — as a “talent evaluator,” Marc Berman of the New York Post reports. Baldwin has extensive contacts in the high school and college ranks and is close with Knicks senior executive William Wesley. The Knicks also hired Tim Hardaway Sr. as a scout without making an official announcement.
  • Center prospect Kai Sotto will work out for the Knicks on Monday, Adam Zagoria of Zagsblog.com tweets. The 7’3” big man from the Philippines spent last season in Australia’s National Basketball League, averaging 7.5 PPG and 4.5 RPG for the Adelaide 36ers.
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Central Notes: Murray, Sharpe, Pistons, Bulls, Irving

May 19th, 2022 at 10:55pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Pistons fell from the No. 3 slot to No. 5 in the draft lottery. If Iowa’s Keegan Murray drops to that spot, the Pistons could take him, James Edwards III of The Athletic writes. The Hawkeyes forward is a player that intrigues Detroit.

As Edwards details, Arizona swingman Bennedict Mathurin is another player that has caught the Pistons’ attention and Kentucky’s Shaedon Sharpe, who didn’t play college basketball this past season, could slot in well next to Cade Cunningham in the backcourt.

We have more from the Central Division:

  • It’s doubtful that the Pistons will trade out of the No. 5 spot, Keith Langlois of Pistons.com opines in his latest mailbag. Moving up from that spot would be costly and trading down or out of the lottery for an established player is unlikely for a team building around younger pieces. However, it’s conceivable they could add another lottery selection at No. 7 in a deal with Portland involving Jerami Grant.
  • The Bulls hold the No. 18 pick and Sam Smith of Bulls.com takes a look at five wing players that might be available at that spot, including Kansas’ Ochai Agbaji and Ohio State’s Malaki Branham.
  • Kyrie Irving admits his immaturity earlier in his career may have cost the Cavaliers additional titles, Brian Lewis of the New York Post writes. Irving made his comments on an I Am Athlete episode. “If I was in the same maturity line and understanding of who I am, and I look back, we definitely, definitely would’ve won more championships, because there would’ve been a better man-to-man understanding about what I’m going through,” he said. “I didn’t know how to share my emotions. I didn’t know how to do that. So instead of sharing, I isolated myself.”
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Atlantic Notes: Green, Sixers, Kyrie, Raptors

May 19th, 2022 at 10:59am CST by Luke Adams

Veteran stars like Kawhi Leonard and Jamal Murray, who suffered ACL tears in the spring of 2021, didn’t play at all in 2021/22, but Danny Green, who tore his ACL in the Sixers‘ second-round series vs. Miami last week, is optimistic that he won’t have to sit out for all of next season.

“I will be back for All-Star break. You got to believe it. You heard it here first,” Green said on his Inside the Green Room podcast, according to Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer. “I will work my tail off to rehab to get back healthy. My body and my bones usually heal pretty well. I don’t have any bad habits. So, yeah, I think I’ll be back in time to help a team in the playoff run and show and prove that I’m able to still play at that level to help a team get a win in the playoffs.”

Green is technically under contract with the Sixers for 2022/23, but his $10MM salary is non-guaranteed. He acknowledged that the team could certainly waive or trade him since he won’t be ready to play at the start of the season.

“That’s part of the business,” he said. “… We haven’t spoken yet.”

Here are a few more notes from around the Atlantic:

  • The Sixers, whose roster lacks depth and features a number of incomplete players, are in a worse spot now than they were in 2019 when they were eliminated in the second round of the playoffs by Toronto, Pompey writes for The Philadelphia Inquirer. In Pompey’s view, the team could use a traditional point guard and multiple “versatile and gritty” wings and forwards, but probably lacks the flexibility or the assets to address all of its needs.
  • The Nets have yet to engage in any contract talks with Kyrie Irving, who holds a $36.9MM player option for 2022/23, general manager Sean Marks said in an interview with YES Network (link via Brian Lewis of The New York Post). “It wouldn’t be right for me to comment on what hypothetical could happen, because we don’t know,” Marks said. “We haven’t had those conversations with Kyrie yet. But when they do (happen), we’ll see if it’s the right fit for both sides.”
  • Eric Koreen of The Athletic considers which 2022 free agents would be good fits for the Raptors and might be attainable for mid-level or bi-annual money, identifying veterans like Bobby Portis, Malik Monk, and Pat Connaughton as possible targets.
  • In a separate story for The Athletic, Koreen fielded mailbag questions on the Raptors‘ offseason, addressing a number of topics, including whether the team would have interest in restricted free agent center Deandre Ayton. Koreen thinks the Raptors could inquire but that they don’t consider it a top priority to acquire a traditional center and wouldn’t want to give up the assets necessary to sign-and-trade for Ayton.
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Nets Notes: Trade Exceptions, Irving, Vanterpool, Harden Trade

May 14th, 2022 at 5:25pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Nets won’t have any cap room this summer, but they can upgrade the roster by using their three trade exceptions, writes Kristian Winfield of The New York Daily News. Brooklyn owns an $11.3MM exception from the James Harden trade with the Sixers, a $6.3MM exception from a deal that sent DeAndre Jordan to the Pistons and a $3.3MM TPE from the Spencer Dinwiddie trade with the Mavericks.

Winfield suggests using the largest exception, along with Philadelphia’s 2027 first-round pick and the Nets’ second-rounder in 2029, to acquire Spurs wing Josh Richardson, and notes that the smaller exceptions could be valuable as rival teams try to clear cap space in advance of free agency.

Winfield shares other ideas for the Nets’ offseason, such as targeting Joe Ingles with the taxpayer mid-level exception and looking for bargains with minimum-salary contracts such as Ben McLemore, Markieff Morris, Danuel House, Isaiah Hartenstein, Bismack Biyombo and Hassan Whiteside.

There’s more on the Nets:

  • Kyrie Irving has been difficult for management to handle since he signed with Brooklyn in 2019, according to Stefan Bondy of The New York Daily News. A source tells Bondy that Irving, who only played 20 games in his first season with the Nets because of a shoulder issue, disappeared from the team and didn’t communicate with the front office about the condition of his shoulder as he looked for second opinions.
  • Steve Nash is expected to return as head coach next season, but he could have a much different staff working for him. Amar’e Stoudemire is leaving his position as a player development assistant, and David Vanterpool isn’t expected back either, Marc Stein states in his latest article for Substack. Vanterpool recently interviewed for the Hornets’ head coaching job.
  • Neither team benefited much from the blockbuster deal headlined by Harden and Ben Simmons, but the Sixers appear to be worse shape than the Nets, observes Brian Lewis of The New York Post. Brooklyn at least has roster stability with Simmons under contract for three more seasons. Philadelphia is facing a difficult decision on how to handle an extension for Harden, who could make nearly $270MM in a five-year max deal.
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