Kyrie Irving officially is a Brooklyn Net.
The signing ended a tumultuous tenure with the Boston Celtics, and apparently fulfilled a destiny the point guard always saw “in the cards,” according to the New Jersey native’s Instagram, at least.
Irving inked a four-year, $140.6 million contract with a $31,720,000 salary in year one, exactly $1 million under his max. But Irving has a chance to earn that extra dough if he completes eight incentives on his contract, with each one valued at $125,000, according to ESPN’s Zach Lowe and Bobby Marks.
The catch? Well, some of these are going to be pretty tough to tackle.
Here is the list of incentives:
- He appears in at least 70 regular-season games.
- He appears in at least 60 regular-season games and averages fewer than 2.4 turnovers per game. Irving has averaged 2.6 turnovers per game over his career, and between 2.3 and 2.7 in each of his past six seasons.
- He appears in at least 60 regular-season games and attempts at least 4.6 free throws per game. Irving has averaged 4.4 free throws per game for his career, and has fallen below the 4.6 mark in each of his past two seasons.
- He shoots 88.5 percent or better from the free throw line in the regular season. Irving is a career 87.5 percent free throw shooter. He has cracked the 88.5 percent mark in three of his eight career seasons.
- Makes at least 2.8 3-pointers per game in the regular season. Irving has accomplished that just once in eight seasons. He has averaged 2.1 made 3s per game over his career.
- He commits fewer than 2.1 fouls per game in the regular season. His career average: 2.2.
- The Nets score at least 114 points per 100 possessions in the regular season with Irving on the floor.
While $1 million might not seem like all that much next to $31.7 million, it’ll still be interesting to monitor how many games Irving decides to sit out for “load management” given this new deal. Remember, this is the same Irving that said he was “definitely” taking some games off before the playoffs as the Celtics jockeyed for position in the Eastern Conference last season.
One thing is for sure, the Nets are expecting Irving’s absolute best.
