The drama never stops in the NBA.
While the Nets were eliminated in the first round of the 2022 NBA Playoffs, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant find themselves back in the news cycle a month later.
On May 24, Kristian Winfield of the New York Daily News wrote a story detailing how the “endgame is much closer than it appears” for the Nets. In it, he reports that the franchise is unwilling to commit long-term to Irving and Durant has not spoken to the Nets’ front office since their season came to an end.
Is the writing on the wall for the Nets? Let’s take a closer look.
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Is Kyrie Irving a free agent?
Irving has a $36.9 million player option in his contract for the 2022-23 season. If he decides to not pick it up, he will be an unrestricted free agent this offseason, allowing him to sign with any team of his choosing.
Complicated as Irving’s situation is — more on that below — there’s no denying his talent. He put together one of the best seasons of his career in 2020-21, posting 26.9 points on .506/.402/.922 shooting splits. He appeared in only 26 games this season, but he tied his career-high with an average of 27.4 points per game.
Since being selected with the No. 1 pick in the 2011 NBA Draft, Irving has earned seven All-Star selections, three All-NBA selections and one championship. If he does decide to test free agency this offseason, he will be one of the best players available.
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Why wouldn’t the Nets sign Kyrie Irving to a long-term extension?
Since joining the Nets in 2019, Irving has appeared in 103 of a possible 226 regular-season games.
Some of those absences were injury-related, but Irving’s COVID-19 vaccination status limited him to 29 games in the 2021-22 season. The Nets didn’t allow Irving to be a part-time player at the start of the season and he still wasn’t eligible to play in Brooklyn’s home games when he initially rejoined the team.
ESPN’s Bobby Marks touched on some of Irving’s off-court concerns in his offseason outlook:
Irving’s off-court concerns are merited.
Including the unvaccinated status that caused him to miss 35 home games this season, Irving was suspended last fall when he went on an unexcused sabbatical.
The year before, he questioned whether the current roster at the time (with Durant out for the season) was good enough as constructed.
In each of the past three seasons, distractions off the court have overshadowed Irving’s All-Star play on the court.
Despite that, Brooklyn needs Irving just as much as he needs the Nets.
Which teams could sign Kyrie Irving in free agency?
Any team could in theory, but the only ones currently projected to have the type of cap space needed to sign a player of Irving’s caliber outright are the Pistons, Magic, Pacers and Spurs.
The Grizzlies and Trail Blazers could join the party but it would require them to make some roster moves.
Is Kevin Durant a free agent?
He is not.
Irving and Durant became Nets at the same time, but Irving didn’t sign an extension prior to the 2021-22 season while Durant did. Durant inked a four-year, $198 million extension that will keep him under contract through 2025-26.
What will happen to Kevin Durant if Kyrie Irving leaves?
That’s the question on everyone’s mind.
In his story, Winfield writes that a “source familiar with the Nets’ thought process” said the franchise is unwilling to give Irving a long-term extension. Not only that, but Winfield writes that a one-year deal is viewed as “unacceptable” on Irving’s side for obvious reasons — he’s a star in his 30s with a history of injuries.
If Irving were to walk this offseason, that wouldn’t leave Durant in the best of situations.
If Irving leaves outright as a free agent this summer, disgruntled by the Nets’ hardball stance on his availability, Brooklyn doesn’t have the cap space to replace him with a star, which means Durant, entering Year 16, could be playing with a questionable Ben Simmons (back surgery) and a roster full of role players.
That’s a first-round exit at best — if Durant stays to see it, and according to multiple sources, Durant and the Nets front office have not spoken since they were swept out of the first round.
And if that were to happen, it wouldn’t come as a huge surprise if Durant became frustrated with his situation.
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It probably doesn’t help that Durant’s former team, the Warriors, is one win away from a return to the NBA Finals and the team that eliminated him, the Celtics, is also one win away from the Finals.
He might be entering his mid-30s, but Durant is still one of the best players in the league.