As one of the most unreliable and dysfunctional players in the NBA, Kyrie Irving is becoming more of a distraction than anything else on the court. While hearing controversial things from him is nothing new at this point, he may have gone a step too far with his recent behavior and actions.
Apparently, even Nets owner Joe Tsai has had enough of Irving’s antics.
According to a report by ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the Neta owner originally held off discussions on suspending Irving, hoping to make it a teaching moment for the veteran point guard. But after Irving failed to respond in any way to Tsai or his messages, it reportedly struck a nerve.
“Essentially, it took until yesterday because the Nets owner, Joe Tsai, pushed back on the idea that he should immediately punish Kyrie Irving,” said Woj. “He wanted to go down the road of trying to educate Irving and make it a learning moment. For nearly a week, Tsai kept extending the clock to give Irving a chance to get this right for himself, the franchise and the Jewish community,” said Woj on Friday. “And Irving never returned a single of his text messages, sources said.”
Nets Owner Is Reportedly ‘Done’ With Irving After Latest Turn Of Events
While the Nets have not officially made a decision on Irving, he will have to serve a 5 game suspension, at the very least, which will make the situation even more difficult for a struggling Nets team.
But there are those who believe he may not be back at all. Joe Tsai is, understandably, very upset with Irving and how he has handled this whole ordeal.
Perhaps people think this is the end of this story, but things could be very different. There could be more to this in recent days, as the Nets might be parting ways with Kyrie following this unnecessary controversy. ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith has talked about this, saying that Joe Tsai is ‘done’ with Kyrie.
“From what I’ve been told, Joe Tsai is completely done with him (Kyrie). He’s dealing with him because he’s under contract and he has to, but he’s completely done with Kyrie Irving.”
Needless to say, the future is up in the air for Uncle Drew. His apology yesterday was certainly a step toward reconciliation, but it seems Irving will have a lot more to do before this situation is behind him.
All the while, his Nets teammates are stuck having to try and start winning games without him on the court. Sound familiar?
