The ideal situation for the Brooklyn Nets is to have a three-headed monster with Kevin Durant, James Harden and Kyrie Irving.
But things are so uncertain surrounding Irving, the Nets might have to live with just Durant and Harden. It sounds like they’re OK with that.
The Nets, of course, swung a huge deal Wednesday that reverberated around the NBA, and it ended with them acquiring James Harden while sending out, among others, Caris LeVert and Jarrett Allen.
This all comes as Irving effectively has gone dark on the Nets, a stretch that his seen him not only duck the team’s calls, but also end up in potential hot water with the NBA by appearing maskless at a birthday party.
And according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the Nets obviously want Irving around, but will live with Harden and Durant.
“(The Irving situation is) absolutely a factor,” Wojnarowski said. “And I think for Brooklyn, really the most important thing for them is not just trying to win a championship with their big three now, but longer term — Kevin Durant has come back from this Achilles injury, a year off, and looks like an MVP again. And remember, he’s going to be back up for free agency in a couple years.
“They can’t be certain what it’s going to look like with Kyrie Irving, how this is going to play out. They hope he’s back, they hope he buys in. But James Harden coming and certainly wanting to stay long term, he wanted this trade to Brooklyn, it gives them maybe some more insurance that they can secure Kevin Durant. Ideally, it’s a three-player partnership, but at the very least it will be James Harden and Kevin Durant.”
That certainly makes it sound like Irving is No. 3 of that group, which he probably doesn’t love.
And while the Harden trade most certainly is a splash, the fit very well could be suspect. We’ll just have to wait and see.
