Kyrie Irving’s next move is anyone’s guess, but many believe he will sign with the Brooklyn Nets.
The All-Star point guard reportedly opted out of his contract with the Boston Celtics and will test the open market. Irving has been linked to the New York Knicks and Nets, but no one knows for sure which way he is leaning.
But should the Nets re-think their strategy of signing the 27-year-old? Stephen A. Smith seems to think so. On Thursday’s edition of ESPN’s “First Take,” Smith elaborated as to why the Nets should proceed with caution when it comes to Irving.
“No one’s questioning Kyrie’s ball skills. They’re questioning two things about him: those knees and how long they’re gonna hold up because a) he’s flat-footed. And b) his presence in the locker room. And that matters. This year, I happen to know for a fact, that there are people close to Kyrie that pulled him to the side and got on him. His body language on the court … indifferent to a lot of different things. Other times he’d get emotional and needed to express himself.
“… The problem is that him coming alone implies he’s the face of your franchise,” Smith added. “And it being fresh off the season in Boston is being counted against him because we saw how other dudes were affected, to some degree, by playing with him. If you are the Brooklyn Nets, D’Angelo Russell, to me, ain’t on Kyrie’s level …Â you get a contribution, so what you have to ask yourself, particularly if you’re a team like the Brooklyn Nets is, OK, we don’t really really know what we’re getting outside of the actual basketball skills. We don’t know what kind of affect he’s going to have on the players around him inside and outside that locker room. Do we want to disrupt it just for him?”
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=np_Doc4Gt2U&w=560&h=315%5D
Smith certainly raises a good point, especially after rumors swirled of Irving having not-so-great relationships with Celtics’ Terry Rozier and Jaylen Brown.
Free agency officially begins June 30, so it will be interesting to see what Irving decides to do next.
