Kyrie Irving is stealing all the headlines for all the wrong reasons right now. He decided to skip multiple games with the Brooklyn Nets, allegedly because he ‘didn’t want to play’, which seemed fair at the moment, considering the U.S Capitol had been stormed and Irving is an advocate for social justice issues.
However, a couple of days later, some videos of Kyrie partying in Toronto surfaced, which made him look pretty bad considering he was reportedly ‘off the grid’ and didn’t even give his team a heads-up about what was happening with him.
That’s why ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith didn’t hesitate when he was asked whether Kyrie Irving was worth the drama or not, going as far as to say that he should retire right now:
“No, he’s not, he’s not worth it at all. As a matter of fact, let me say this straight-up and down. I think Kyrie Irving should retire; I think he should announce his retirement today. Clearly, you don’t want to play basketball bad enough. Now, you may still want to get the 32.4 million dollars, obviously (…),” Stephen A. Started.
Smith went on to add that clearly, basketball isn’t a priority to Kyrie Irving anymore, and that what he’s doing is unfair to the Nets organization and even his friend Kevin Durant:
“Kyrie Irving has no prioritized basketball. I’m not saying that he doesn’t want to play altogether. I’m saying that he hasn’t prioritized it. And how fair is it that to the Brooklyn Nets? How fair is that to Sean Marks? How far is that to Steve Nash – a coach that he endorsed bringing up on board, a coach that he wanted, that he fully supported. How far is that to his brother, Kevin Durant?” he added.
Stephen A. has a valid point right here. It’s well known that Kevin Durant decided to join the Nets because of Kyrie Irving. Kyrie wanted to play for his hometown team, and Durant wanted to play with him. So no, that’s not fair to KD, who already got a lot of backlash throughout his career.
Kyrie Irving has only played 7 games for the Nets this season and it’s unclear when he’ll be eligible to return. Also, he only played 20 games last season due to multiple injuries, so clearly, Sean Marks must be thinking the same right now: Was it worth it?
