Kyrie Irving is an NBA champion and a seven-time All-Star. But he might simply have too much baggage to give him any sort of appeal to other teams.
Yahoo! Sports’ Chris Mannix indicated this week on “The Crossover NBA Show” (h/t NBA Reddit) that the controversial Brooklyn Nets guard may be seen as a negative trade asset around the league.
“The Nets are kind of painted into a corner,” said Mannix. “They can’t really trade him. I was asking around a couple of teams, just for their opinion on the trade value of Kyrie Irving. It’s virtually zero. I mean, he makes $35 million this year, and he’s as unpredictable as you get so why would you give up anything of value to get him back in return?”
Irving is still one of the most talented players in the league. His first two seasons with the Nets were the best statistical years of his career. Irving’s absence in Brooklyn’s second-round playoff series against the Milwaukee Bucks very likely might have swung last year’s NBA championship as well.
But Irving is a public relations nightmare who seems to manufacture a ridiculous new controversy every week. For this week, it is the fuss over Irving’s vaccination status. Prior to his arrival in Brooklyn, Irving also demanded a trade from the Cleveland Cavaliers and then torpedoed the Boston Celtics when he got sent there. Regardless of what he can do on the court, that does not exactly sound like a player that teams will be lining up around the block to try to acquire.
More must-reads: