The Brooklyn Nets recently fired their head coach, Kenny Atkinson, and nobody really knows why. After years of helping pull the franchise out of the gutter, why would they let him go so suddenly?
Cryptic reports have hinted that certain “players” wanted him gone, and most seem convinced Kyrie Irving had something to do with it.
And while there’s no concrete evidence that Uncle Drew is to blame, he seems to blaze a very distinct path wherever he goes. One Reddit user went so far as to call it the “Kyrie effect.”
Since forcing himself out of Cleveland, Kyrie has a three-year stretch in which he: created drama, turmoil, and hostility on a Celtics’ team that was better without him, left that team just a year after he verbally committed to staying, complained about some of the teammates on his new team, and then (reportedly) got his head coach fired.
The Nets and Celtics were seemingly doing better before his arrival. In both cases, he came into a new situation and made things very complicated.
Fortunately, with Kevin Durant on the mend, Irving won’t have to lead the team alone next season. In fact, they should be poised for a pretty dominant season when all of their players come back healthy.
But with such a chaotic history, one has to wonder how long it will last. How long can the Nets continue to function with Kyrie’s rather erotic behavior?
It could very well be long enough to win a Championship, assuming Uncle Drew still has his old bag of tricks.
