Kyrie Irving’s antics over the last year or so raised some major red flags for those following the star’s actions and there was perhaps no one who was following these proceedings closer than Brooklyn Nets GM Sean Marks. It was no surprise then, that he wasn’t too happy with the situation and he appeared to throw shade at Kyrie when the topic of an extension came up last week.
He also held an interview with Yes Network, which aired on Monday in which he stated that talks between him, owner Joe Tsai and Irving are yet to take place regarding the star guard’s extension.
“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.”
“We want to avoid the drama, we want to avoid the distractions. These last couple years here, whether it was expectation set on the team or some of the outside circumstances that were going on in the world, they affected our guys — both individually and as a group — really poorly, unfortunately.”
Marks makes a fair assessment here of how things have panned out for this iteration of the Nets. They haven’t even reached a Conference Final with this group of individuals and a lot of it, especially this season, can be attributed to things off the court. He’ll be hoping for fewer distractions next season, but with Kyrie around, distractions almost seem inevitable at this point.
They will have to make a big call here regarding how they want to move forward. Trusting Irving and giving him a max extension could backfire tremendously but at the same time, he doesn’t seem like the kind who would agree to sign on for less money. They will have to balance the good and the bad to come to a conclusion that will have a big impact on whether they contend for the title in the coming years.
