Kyrie Irving

There isn’t a more polarizing free agent this year than Kyrie Irving. There is a lot that is going to go into where he ends up this offseason should he opt-out of his current deal looking to land a long-term one.

Landing a long-term max deal is not going to be easy for him. If the only thing that matters when committing to a player was their performance on the court, Irving is a no-doubt max player. Alas, there is much more than goes into it.

Irving cannot be counted on to be in the lineup every night. Injuries happen, but some of his absences during his tenure with the Brooklyn Nets are self-inflicted. He has stepped away for social issues and did not receive the COVID-19 vaccine, leaving him ineligible for home games throughout nearly the entire 2021-22 season.

Those reasons are why Kyrie Irving is unlikely to land a long-term deal, as that is something the Nets are unwilling to do. However, there is another layer to this, which is Kevin Durant. Brooklyn has to keep him happy, as he chose their franchise to team up with Irving on.

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Irving will ultimately re-up with the Nets, but it will not be for a long-term deal. One-year deals are something that could be on the table, or 1+1 deals that LeBron James has used in the past to maintain his flexibility.

In this scenario, the Brooklyn Nets would be doing that to protect them from committing long-term to the uncertainty that surrounds Kyrie Irving.