3 teams that should have interest in Kyrie Irving
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS – APRIL 17: Kyrie Irving #11 of the Brooklyn Nets looks on before Round 1 Game 1 of the 2022 NBA Eastern Conference Playoffs at TD Garden on April 17, 2022 in Boston, Massachusetts, NBA Trades: 3 teams that should have interest in Kyrie Irving. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
Kyrie Irving is one of the most talented players in the NBA. Few players have his deep bag of offensive moves, from stepback jumpers to impossible layups spinning off of the glass. When Irving has the ball in his hands, what he creates is very often magical.
On the other hand, he is also one of the most mercurial and frustrating players in the NBA. His decision-making on major life issues is either deeply flawed or entirely insane, he has “left” two excellent situations to seek something different, and now rumors are flying that he could be on the move again.
The Brooklyn Nets and Kyrie Irving are “at an impasse” in contract negotiations. Which other NBA teams should be interested in adding Kyrie?
This past season certainly did not end the way that the Brooklyn Nets hoped, with a four-game sweep at the hands of the Boston Celtics, and their slot as the seventh-seed was caused in large part by Irving missing dozens of games because he refused to get vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus. Given this is the third time in three years Irving has missed part of a season due to very particular off-court reasons, the Nets have to be concerned about relying on him moving forward.
That likely influences their reported hesitance to offer Irving a long-term deal, which means he may be on the move this summer. Whether he exercises his player option to hit free agency or opts in for a deal, the relationship between Irving and Brookyln may have degraded to an unfixable level. Conversations have “gone stagnant” and Irving is now clear to “consider the open marketplace, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (subscription required).
If that is the case, who are three teams that could make a move to add the former championship point guard?