The Knicks aren’t the only New York team primed to make some noise in the upcoming NBA offseason.
Fresh off a season in which they exceeded expectations, the Nets are in line to be fairly active this summer in hopes of taking the franchise to the next level. Brooklyn is projected to be a major player in the Kyrie Irving sweepstakes, which could serve as the catalyst for an even bigger move.
“Brooklyn is going as hard after Anthony Davis as anybody,” Chris Broussard said Monday on FS1’s “The Herd.” “A package of like D’Angelo Russell, Jarrett Allen, who’s a nice piece — shot blocker, athletic at the rim, nice for this day and age in basketball. They got the 17th and 27th pick. Now Brooklyn, their dream is to pair AD with Kyrie. They really only wanna try to get AD if they got Kyrie because that’ll help them keep AD. So if you get Kyrie to agree, ‘I’ll go to Brooklyn if you get AD,’ then Brooklyn makes that type of offer for Anthony Davis and they try to pair those two. Kyrie grew up a Nets fan. He grew up in Jersey, grew up a Nets fan and the selling point to Kyrie — and one thing I’m told he’s looking at — is you don’t have to deal with the media in Brooklyn as much you do with the Knicks. But nationally, the gap between the Knicks and the Nets isn’t nearly as wide as it is in New York. Around the country, people could get behind Brooklyn more so than the Knicks. But in New York, the Knicks are king and nothing will change that.”
If Irving’s free agency decision comes down to the pair of New York teams, it would be fairly tough to determine a frontrunner. Brooklyn probably offers a better opportunity to win from the get-go, but Irving might not be able to pass up a chance to play alongside one of his best friends, Kevin Durant. And given his business ventures outside of basketball, Irving might deal with the overwhelming media attention that comes with playing for the Knicks for the sake of exposure.
Bright lights and a superstar teammate might also be the pitch made by the Los Angeles Lakers, who Irving reportedly is “more open” to signing with this summer.
