As long he remains unvaccinated against COVID-19, All-Star guard Kyrie Irving would have more value in a market where he could play all 82 games than he currently does in Brooklyn, where a local vaccine mandate would prevent him from playing in more than half of the team’s games this season.
However, even if the Nets were to explore the trade market for Irving, they may not find a ton of enthusiastic suitors, according to Tim Bontemps and Bobby Marks of ESPN, who suggest the 29-year-old wouldn’t be a sure thing to report to a new team. Marc Stein of Substack conveys a similar sentiment in his latest article, writing that there’s a belief “in some corners of the league” that Irving would seriously consider retirement if the Nets were to trade him.
Irving’s unpredictable, mercurial nature is probably one reason why the Sixers, according to Stein, haven’t shown any interest yet in a exploring a trade involving Kyrie and Ben Simmons. Even if Irving were willing to join a new team, his ability to hit free agency in 2022 may diminish his appeal to potential suitors, including Philadelphia, says Stein.
Here’s more on Irving:
- Nets general manager Sean Marks previously expressed interest in signing Irving to a contract extension this offseason, but those discussions are “on ice” for now, sources tell Bontemps and Marks.
- The Nets explored the possibility of moving their practices outside of New York City to accommodate Irving, but decided against it for a variety of reasons, including a desire to have access to all their facilities, per Bontemps and Marks. Head coach Steve Nash has also said the Nets haven’t been in communication with Irving about his personal workouts while he’s away from the team. “It’s not something we’ve discussed,” Nash said.
- James Harden stated on Thursday that Irving’s absence would hurt the Nets, since he’s “one of our best players and one of our leaders,” as NetsDaily relays. However, while Harden said he “of course” wants Kyrie to be on the team, he added that he’s not disappointed by his teammate’s stance. “It’s not disappointing at all. It’s not disappointing,” Harden said. “Kai believes in what he believes in. His family is behind him, we’re behind him. That’s all that it is.”
Are we going to see a Ben Simmons/Kyrie Irving trade?
The salaries match well, and Kyrie could play at home games in Philly.
Who else is willing to offer the Sixers a better player than Irving? None one.
* no one
If I’m the Sixers I wouldn’t want Kyrie.
He’s unvaccinated and going to miss key games, come playoffs what happens if we have to face New York or Brooklyn and he misses half the series.
There is also reports he would retire if he gets traded or he will not show up, just like Simmons currently isn’t.
Not to mention Kyrie has injury history, and is very radical in this think with some crazy theory’s and just in general seems difficult to work with from my perspective.
Although he’s a great player when fit and healthy and stuff, he probably carry’s the most baggage in the league with him and that just unnecessary drama. I’d much rather the Pacers Brogdan, LeVert and a first round pick offer.
Players from visiting teams are not affected by local vaccine mandates, so he wouldn’t miss any game for that reason in a series against a NY team. Nevertheless, I wouldn’t want him either.
Thanks didn’t know that
In this case it’s a matter of picking your poison, Simmons or Kyrie?
I mean reports say Simmons has thought about return cause of the loss in money. Plus other teams have given us good offers for him.
Kyrie could just retire on us and leave us with nothing. So Simmons over Kyrie easily
I agree with everything you said, save for the last sentence. Which is why, push come to shove, even though this is a HIGHLY hypothetical what/if, I could see Philly doing the deal.
Kyrie Irving as a talent is just better than Brogdon or McCollum or Russell or whatever mid-tier guard is rumored to be on offer for Simmons this week. And it’s not close.
Philly ultimately needs to get a (perimeter) All-NBA talent to pair with Embiid to be truly in contention post-Simmons. You pair Embiid with McCollum and Harris and Covington, or with Brogdon and Levert and Harris—sure, they’re still very good. They’re a dark horse if things break right. But you really can’t mention them in the same sentence with BK and MIL, IMO.
The problem for Morey now is that those All-NBA guys are (somewhat) rarely available—and if/when they are it doesn’t seem like Simmons’ value is going to be high enough for them to get one. Hence why if Kyrie continues to hold out I see this rumor being perpetually in the ether.
Like I said at the top, Philly won’t get a better player than Kyrie.
Yeah I see what your saying but what If you deal for Kyrie and he retires and you get zero games out of him then you have Harris and Embiid and that’s it.
Or even if he doesn’t retire he, gets injured or causes issues in the locker room, or says some stupid stuff in the media or just whatever. To me your risking way to much on Kyrie.
Brogdan he’s a 20-5-5 guy with a 90-50-40 season and LeVert, he’s a 20-5-5 guy.
If not then McCollum he’s near enough a 20-5-5 guy who’s just missed out on being an all star multiple times, and Covington he’s not got great stat lines but he’s a former all defensive first teamer.
Another one I like, Sexton hes only 22 and put up 23-4-3 and KLove former all star, former all nba, former champ he’s was last year 12-7-3 and year before that was 18-10-3.
Personally a ‘2 for the price of 1’ deal plus a first is a much better return than Kyrie. Much less risk, more depth, less disruptive and hopefully going to make us more successful.
I actually also like Sexton a lot for Philly. Feel like he has an upside and explosiveness that’s not there with Brogdon or CJM.
I think there would be assurances in place, some kind of under the table agreement that Kyrie will not retire and extend with Philly, before a deal was ever made. Same goes with Brooklyn and Simmons.
Then again Kyrie is totally unpredictable so there’s always a risk. I still think with Morey though … he’d rather take the higher risk higher upside.
Wow you expect to get a top half PG in Brogdan and an really good young SG in Lavert plus a pick. For a guy who cannot shoot a lick, and quit on his team. What a dream!
He’s hardly young at 27. His name is LeVert and lastly it’s not a dream it’s being reported by multiple places that both teams are in discussions over a deal similar to this.
I think that was just writer Pompey, speculating. It is possible he heard of talk I guess but cannot ruin a source.
Kyrie for Simmons actually makes a ton of sense on paper, assuming Irving is all-in on not getting the vaccine.
Hard to believe he’d retire. The free agency angle is legit but Irving and Embiid as a duo would be a contender for 3-5 years.
If Kyrie isn’t interested in that then maybe he’s just not that interested in playing basketball anymore, period.
Retire already.
H8er!
I’m guessing that Don here is liking his own comments, that’s just so sad.
@GreeWood Porter yeah he has been coming off quite lame in the post section recentlt. He was always on the border now he is well over the line. Lol
Too serious, look at the OP.
The NBA would be reduced if Irving quit, even as someone to root against, and he would still find a way to make headlines.
You can mute El Don easily enough. I had robohouston blocked so long I forgot my name for him, since he changed it a lot.
I did. Im all game for some banter and even some hard debating, calling out, even name calling to an extent is fine. But when guys get to flat out 100 percent troll mode I’d rather not waste my time.
This seems like a message board trade idea. I don’t see either team having any real interest.
KI is a much better player than his contract (which is the asset that would actually get traded) is a trade target. He has a PO for next year, and, if one thing is certain, he’s going to play where he wants – even if it’s via the path of most resistance (he might even prefer it that way). From the Nets standpoint, I think they’re smart enough to know that contracts like KI’s are essentially (absent a trade demand) untradeable. If they elected to try, I doubt it would be to add a guy who’s higher maintenance that KI at this point. By next season, any vaccine mandate like the current NYC one will be a memory.
IDK, I think Daryl Morey would, at this point, probably jump at the idea, *if* he was assured that Irving would actually show up. Especially given the current alternatives of Malcolm Brogdon, CJ McCollum, et al that have been bandied about and seem to be where Simmons’ trade value is permanently settling, barring him showing up and actually playing games again.
It’s probably more of a msg board idea for Brooklyn—but if Kyrie is essentially out half their games (which is becoming increasingly likely as other holdouts like Wiggins have got the shot) then I think they probably have to at least consider moving him, given the age of KD and Harden.
Is Simmons the best fit in a potential Irving trade? Maybe, maybe not. At the very least playing with Harris, KD, Harden would mitigate his shooting woes.
For Philly: I’d need KI to sign a contract extension, in addition to showing up to play.
For the Nets: I’d need all 3 of the stars to be on board with it.
Simmons value will head upwards from here, as teams (and their FO’s) start to realize they didn’t put together a championship group in the off season after all, and Morey opens buy window. If Morey’s any good at this, he’ll open that window right about the time teams start to have such epiphanies.
First two points I think are givens. Morey will need his assurances and KD and JH are probably consulted on almost every move BK makes.
Last point is valid, and I think Morey’s basically putting all of his eggs in the “Portland starts off 5-11 and Dame requests out” basket. But to your point other teams (GSW, WAS) fit that profile as well.
Only way I see this deal realistically happening is if Kyrie is still unvaccinated by December and Portland and Washington are playing well enough not to want to make a franchise altering trade.
At that point Philly will most likely be feeling the effects of being Ben-less. And Brooklyn may not be super high on Year 2 of the Big 3 being on paper only, even if they can still contend with “just” Harden and Durant.
Then it may be the case that BK and PHI are the last ones at the dance.
Simmons isn’t going anywhere until the Sixers receive a offer that either elevates the Sixers or maintains the Sixers as the top seed and championship contender. A walking triple double nightly, Simmons at 25 is a elite defender,signed long term,unlimited potential a unicorn at 6’10 240 a top 20 player .
So basically Simmons isn’t going anywhere ’cause that offer ain’t happening.
Is it me or does it seem like everyone on Brooklyn is their because they didn’t like their previous team. Especially kyrie. Reminds me of him in Boston. Cause we all know why he left Cleveland. Harden same thing. Durant left a dynasty to try and give something to Brooklyn that they never had. But forgot he don’t have curry anymore! Or draymond pushing is …..!
LeBron James must be so much happier. Crazy to think he put up with Kai for so long and won a ring with him and made him seem like he wasn’t crazy.
Now isn’t of Irving and Love he has Russ and AD plus a bunch of mates in Melo, Jordan and so on.
One day Kylie will fall off the edge of his flat earth
H8er!
The odds of the Sixers trading Simmons for Kyrie are about the same odds as the Sixers trading Simmons for a pile of LeBron’s used underwear. Zero.
I SUSPECT that the Nets are very quietly happy about, and possibly even rooting for the chance that Irving will sit out. Durant could never have accomplished his playoff heroics last post season with Irving on the court. With Harden and the rest of their supporting cast, the Nets are probably a better team without Kyrie. Chances are though , as with Wiggins, Irving will start to think about his bank account. Or maybe not.
H8er!
Here’s the reality folks. The Kyrie Irving all Sixers fans would want, isn’t the Kyrie Irving that’s “available”. He’s bizarro Kyrie.
If Kyrie wasn’t looney toons there would be no trade rumor. He is looney toons and the team isn’t really discussing the idea of trading him.
From a pure talent standpoint and performance standpoint – I’d trade Ben for Kyrie any day. But beyond being bat poop crazy, he could want to retire the next day or he’s injury prone. And then he will opt out regardless and probably end up somewhere else in a year with no way to replace him other than the hope for a dismal S&T.
And trading Ben straight up for Kyrie is very logical from a Sixers standpoint.
Ben isn’t a slouch, he’s a sissy, but if when looking at the metrics that basically end up telling you who the MVP each season will be (VORP+BPM+WS) Ben is 10.9 and Kyrie is 16.2. The analytics tell you Kyrie is the choice. Jokic lead in each category with a total of 35.9. And while I love Embiid (19.7) Jokic’s season was historically great.
Also of note… Brogdon, LeVert, and Holiday combined are 11.9 and Brogdon/LeVert = 9.4 together. So saying just those 2 for Ben really doesn’t make sense. CJ is 9.5 Wiggins 2.8
Like the dude we all want – Dame 21.1 and if I’m thinking logically how do I make up for that difference the convo always starts: Ben + 4 firsts.
Kyrie Irving can join Nets for home practices ….
link to nypost.com
Nash says he has some clarity on Kyrie now. WTF cares I say. You know whats getting clearer. He blows this season for Nets. And he will be Gone ….
No no we don’t want him in Manhattan . Just sail away.
Wow.
Just proves that this is a “players league”—-The fact that they where entertaining the idea of moving the practise facility to accommodate Kyrie is *}¥*+%~££¥.
This is what we get when we let the “cuck’s run the insane asylum”
Don’t pay him and we will see how quickly he chances his stance. And if he doesn’t, he can retire and promote his book “The World is Flat”