Nets point guard Kyrie Irving has requested a trade and would like to be moved by the trade deadline on February 9, The Athletic’s Shams Charania reports. If Irving isn’t traded, Charania reports he will not re-sign with the team in when he enters free agency this offseason.
In his fourth year with the team, Irving has played in 40 games for Brooklyn this year, averaging 27.1 points, 5.3 assists and 5.1 rebounds per game. The Nets currently have a 31–20 record, good enough for fourth place in the Eastern Conference and are just 5.5 games back of the No. 1 seeded Celtics.
The point guard first joined the Nets on a long-term deal in the summer of 2019, joining Kevin Durant in Brooklyn. Since then, however, he has caused more drama than expected with the team. Last year, Irving only played in 29 games largely due to being unvaccinated against COVID-19. Earlier this season, he was suspended by the team following his promotion of an antisemitic film and book on social media, and his failure to adequately apologize for the post.
Irving’s four-year contract is set to expire in the offseason, and while he initially wanted to re-sign, it seems that negotiations have stalled ahead of this request. Last month, Bleacher Report’s Chris Haynes reported that Irving wanted to stay in Brooklyn for the rest of his career.
"Around Kyrie and staying with the Nets? I have reached out to the Nets regarding this," Irving’s agent and stepmother Shetellia Irving told Haynes. “We have had no significant conversations to date. The desire is to make Brooklyn home, with the right type of extension, which means the ball is in the Nets' court to communicate now if their desire is the same.”
However, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the two sides haven’t come close to an agreement, leading to Irving’s trade request.
In 2021, the Nets reportedly offered Irving an extension along with Durant and James Harden, but Durant was the only one of the three to accept at the time. Since then, Brooklyn traded Harden to the Sixers and Durant briefly requested a trade in June before rescinding his request in August.
Durant’s Nets extension has him signed with the team through 2026, and is worth $198 million over the course of the deal.
This is a developing story, check back for updates.
