Brooklyn Nets: Could trading Kyrie Irving be the next order of business?
The Brooklyn Nets’ new Big 3 looks incredible on paper, but someone is going to need to take a step back.
Kevin Durant is one of the three best basketball players on planet earth who prematurely left Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and the Warriors dynasty because he grew discontent with living in a version of basketball nirvana that was not headlined by himself. Durant will not—and absolutely should not—take a back seat.
James Harden is a recent league MVP who has led the league in scoring each of the past three seasons because the Houston Rockets catered to every one of his basketball desires. After holding the keys to an organization for nearly a decade, Harden, like Durant, will not play third banana.
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That leaves Kyrie Irving—a guy who, amongst 99 other comical absurdities, forced his way out of Cleveland because he did not receive as much credit as a fellow teammate who is widely considered one of the two best basketball players ever to grace the hardwood. If you genuinely believe Irving will willingly settle into a role as the Nets’ proverbial third wheel, I kindly ask that you send me a case of whatever it is you are sipping on.
The point is this: If none of your three headliners are willing to make marginal sacrifices, who becomes the odd man out? It won’t be Harden because the Nets just mortgaged their entire future to acquire his talents, and it should not be Durant because, well, he’s Kevin Durant.
Yet again, that leaves Kyrie Irving—the ethereal, perplexing, ball-dominant point guard who has failed to mesh within every basketball situation playing host to his abilities over the last four years.