USA News Hub

This is why, as I’ve already written, the Nets’ championship hopes hinge on an amicable solution with Kyrie Irving, whose personal decision not to get vaccinated and unpredictable injury history have left the Nets hesitant, and now, according to a source familiar with the Nets’ thought process, outright unwilling to give him a long-term extension.
Source: Kristian Winfield @ New York Daily News

What’s the buzz on Twitter?

Kyrie Irving @KyrieIrving
Protect our Youth, by any means necessary!
My prayers are with you
God/Creator.
Please place your hands on our families everywhere. – 8:15 AM

Kristian Winfield @Krisplashed
I feel like it was yesterday when I was watching Jonathan Kuminga go off at the Kyrie Invitational at Barclays Center. Now he’s hitting big shots in the playoffs on a championship contender. – 11:28 PM

Ian Begley @IanBegley
Below is the voting for All-NBA teams, including players who received votes but didn’t make teams. Nets’ Kevin Durant made second team All-NBA. Kyrie Irving received one third-team vote: pic.twitter.com/3TpmV5TUFB – 8:32 PM

Ric Bucher @RicBucher
Messages to Harden and Kyrie Are Far Different shows.acast.com/bucher-and-fri… via @acast – 2:23 AM

Kristian Winfield @Krisplashed
Saw LeBron tweet about playing with KD and Kyrie and cooked up a trade to make it happen nydailynews.com/sports/basketb… – 5:52 PM

More on this storyline

Talks between Irving, Marks and Nets owner Joe Tsai have yet to happen. “I look forward to [it],” Marks told YES Network. “We have not had a conversation yet. So I look forward to getting in a room with him and Joe and his team, and we will. We’ll see what it looks like for Kyrie moving forward here, and what he needs from us and so forth. “So, again, it wouldn’t be right for me to comment on what hypothetical could happen, because we don’t know. We haven’t had those conversations with Kyrie yet. But when they do, we’ll see if it’s the right fit for both sides.” -via New York Post / May 18, 2022

If Irving opts out, he would be eligible for a four-year, $189.7 million extension or even a five-year, $245.6 million deal, with only the Nets able to offer him the fifth year. If he picks up his option, he could ink extensions of either three or four years, picking up in 2023-24, but that would require leaving more than $5 million on the table next season. The Nets should be expected to try to protect themselves, either with a shorter deal or baked-in incentives. Irving’s current four-year, $136 million deal contains a total of $4.3 million in incentives, per Spotrac, with $3 million of that so-called “unlikely bonuses.” -via New York Post / May 18, 2022

Kristian Winfield: Sean Marks says he hasn’t discussed a long-term extension with Kyrie Irving yet, and that Kyrie has to decide on his player option as well: “I think that’s been something we’ve been discussing and that’s something we’ll debrief on.” -via Twitter @Krisplashed / May 11, 2022