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Brooklyn Nets guard Kyrie Irving has reportedly parted ways with Roc Nation Sports. Via the New York Post:
The first bit of Nets news on NBA Draft night had nothing to do with the draft, but with Kyrie Irving firing Roc Nation as his agency.
The move was first reported on ESPN, and confirmed by The Post.
Irving had just signed with Roc Nation in 2019, as he was preparing to bolt Boston for Brooklyn in free agency. The All-Star point guard has now gone through his second agency in three years.
A Nets team playing at full strength continues to be an elusive endeavor. Via the NY Daily News:
Kyrie Irving will not accompany the Nets on their three-game road trip and instead will tend to a family matter, the team announced on Monday. He will miss the team’s back-to-back games in Portland against the Trail Blazers and in Utah against the league-best Jazz. He will also miss Friday’s matchup against the Detroit Pistons, a team that has proven difficult for Brooklyn to overcome.
The nature of the family matter is not immediately clear, and his absence is precisely why the Nets should fortify their back court and add another point guard to the roster.
Irving has been electric for the Nets at the shooting guard position, averaging a career-high 28 points on shooting percentages that could land him in the vaunted 50-40-90 club. But if the best ability is availability, Irving has not been at his best in his two seasons in Brooklyn.
The Nets are 29-14 this season, which is the second best record in the Eastern conference.
Their leading scorers so far in 2020-21 are Kevin Durant at 29.0 points per game (in just 19 games played), Irving at 28.1 ppg (in 31 games played), and James Harden at 25.4 ppg (in 29 games since being traded from the Rockets to the Nets).
The NBA announced today that Brooklyn Nets forward Kevin Durant and guard Kyrie Irving have been selected by fans, current NBA players and a media panel to start in the 2021 NBA All-Star Game, which will take place on Sunday, March 7, at State Farm Arena in Atlanta.
Durant and the Lakers’ LeBron James will serve as team captains for the Team Durant vs. Team LeBron matchup and draft rosters from the pool of players voted as starters and reserves in each conference. TNT will air the 2021 NBA All-Star Draft on Thursday, March 4, at 8 p.m. ET.
Irving has been named an All-Star for the seventh time in his career and has been selected as a starter for the fifth time. The 2014 All-Star Game MVP has averaged 28.3 points (seventh in the league and fourth in the East), 4.6 rebounds, 5.7 assists and 1.1 steals in 35.3 minutes per game while shooting 53.4 percent from the field, 44.2 percent from 3-point range and 91.8 percent from the free-throw line (seventh in the league) across 20 games.
Irving is currently on pace to become just the fourth player in NBA history to average 25.0 or more points per game on 50.0 percent shooting from the field, 40.0 percent shooting from 3-point range and 90.0 percent shooting from the free-throw line, which was previously accomplished twice by Larry Bird (1986-87 and 1987-88) and once by Stephen Curry (2015-16) and Durant (2012-13).
Irving is averaging career highs in points per game, field goal percentage, 3-point percentage, offensive rating (121.6), net rating (8.2) and effective field goal percentage (61.0 percent), while tallying 25 or more points 16 times this season, including seven games of 30 or more points.
Durant and Irving are the fifth and sixth Nets to ever be selected as All-Star Game starters, joining Jason Kidd (2008), Vince Carter (2005), Kenny Anderson (1994) and Derrick Coleman (1994), and just the second pair of Nets selected to start an All-Star Game together, joining Anderson and Coleman, who were selected to start the 1994 All-Star Game in Minnesota.
As soon as the Nets traded for James Harden, the obvious question was if he’d be more of a shooting guard or if Kyrie Irving would play that role. And even though Harden was a shooting guard early in his career, he’s clearly proven to be an assist-producing machine. The obvious guess was that he should be the Nets’ PG, with Irving playing off the ball a bit more as a pure scorer. Well, Irving agrees. Via the NY Post:
James Harden dissected Golden State with 16 assists Saturday night, the most by a player in Brooklyn Nets history. And as he continues to look like the most effective point guard in the league, the Nets’ former point guard has officially bestowed the position on him.
“I feel like he’s doing a great job of managing the point guard role,” Kyrie Irving said after the Nets’ 134-117 victory over the Warriors on Saturday night. “We established that maybe four days ago now. I just looked at him, and I said, ‘You’re the point guard, and I’m going to play shooting guard.’
“That was as simple as that. So he’s been taking control of the responsibilities and doing an incredible job. It just makes my job easier to just go out and play free and just make plays. It’s a luxury. I just want to continue it.”
The Nets offense is already excellent and should get even better as the season progresses, especially as roles get more clearly defined and chemistry further develops.
The Nets won’t be at full strength tonight. Via the Sun Sentinel:
The second appearance of the Brooklyn Nets’ Big Three was put on hold Friday until the Miami Heat’s Saturday visit to Barclays Center.
As they continue to manage Kevin Durant’s recovery from the torn Achilles that kept him out last season, the Nets announced Friday that Durant would not play in Friday night’s game against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Instead, Durant, Kyrie Irving and James Harden are expected to play for only the second time as a trio when the Heat open their two-game set against the Nets at 8 p.m. Saturday, a set that concludes Monday at Barclays Center.
The Cavs handed the Nets a loss in double overtime on Wednesday.
With Durant out, this gives everyone a chance to focus on how Harden and Irving play alongside each other. Which is actually the biggest thing to pay attention to on the Nets roster right now.
Now this is big. James Harden, one of the best players in the NBA, and one of the league’s most potent offensive superstars in many years, is reportedly ready to move on from the Houston Rockets. Where would Harden like to be traded? Brooklyn, reportedly. Here’s the Houston Chronicle:
James Harden on Monday went from interested to determined in regard to making the career- and franchise-changing move of leaving the Rockets for the Brooklyn Nets. And he took an unprecedented step to prove it.
Harden turned down the Rockets’ offer of a two-year, $103 million contract extension, two individuals with knowledge of the offer confirmed. ESPN was the first to report the offer that would have had Harden, 31, under contract, for five more seasons.
The extension would have put Harden in line to become the highest-paid player in NBA history.
Harden made it clear that rather than finish his career with the Rockets, he wants to be dealt to the Nets to play with Kevin Durant, his former Oklahoma City teammate, and Kyrie Irving. He also indicated he has no interest in going anywhere besides Brooklyn and believes the Rockets should make the best deal with the Nets that they can, even if they do not consider it satisfactory.
Harden, the NBA’s leading scorer the past three seasons, has three seasons, worth $133 million, remaining on his contract, the last season at a player option.
Harden and Kyrie Irving aren’t necessarily a perfect backcourt match, but their individual talent is undeniable, and their potential, along with Durant in the frontcourt, would make for an incredibly powerful NBA trio.
For now, this just remains Harden’s alleged wish. By no means does this appear to be a trade in motion just yet.
Here’s the New York Post reporting Nets guard Kyrie Irving’s most updated views regarding the NBA’s plan to resume play next month:
A new player coalition has been formed, led by injured Nets point guard Kyrie Irving, to continue a push to derail the NBA’s Orlando restart because of concerns over taking the spotlight away from the Black Lives Matter movement.
The coalition, of which Lakers’ reserve Avery Bradley is also an organizer, is being put together to provide a voice for players who, according to ESPN, “fear retribution if they openly voice their concerns’’ about racial injustice. ESPN reported 40 players got on a conference call Monday to discuss the matter.
Irving, out after shoulder surgery and unable to play in Orlando, started the revolt in a Friday conference call among 80 players, questioning the timing of the 22-team restart with training camp set to begin around July 10.
It’s not yet clear exactly what percentage of NBA players do want play to resume next month, vs. how many do not.
There was no real reason to expect Kyrie Irving to leave the Celtics as a free agent next summer. He’s got a great role. An excellent team. A young squad that should keep getting better. And right now, the team has just as clear a path to the NBA Finals as his LeBron James-led Cavs squad did.
Kyrie wanting out of Cleveland was a surprise, too. But there’s no reason to expect the same in regard to Boston. And now he’s said so himself, not in those exact words, but close enough. Here’s the Boston Herald reporting:
The annual Celtics season ticketholder fan fest is a generally fun affair, notable mainly for skills contests among the players.
But Kyrie Irving made Thursday night’s event something that will be spoken of for years. While the All-Star guard has been hinting strongly since he returned to town for training camp that he will be remaining with the club when he opts out of his contract next summer, he went a loud step further during a panel discussion on the parquet floor.
Rising from his chair, microphone in hand, Irving told the crowd, “If you’ll have me back, I plan on re-signing here next year.”
Evidently, it wasn’t such a spur of the moment remark. Irving told team officials he planned on making the statement tonight, though he saved it for the larger crowd after an earlier media session backstage.
The Celtics are must-watch these days, because they’re an excellent team, fun to watch, and also to see how they work Gordon Hayward into the mix.
Yes, every pro athlete tries to stay healthy. That’s probably your first reaction to the headline. But it’s not that simple, obviously. NBA players are paid to give their all. And in the playoffs, more than that. Sure, players take it slightly “easier” in the regular season than the postseason, but nothing about playing pro basketball is easy. And now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, here’s the Boston Herald reporting on Kyrie Irving:
There’s a lot of miles in those 26-year-old legs, and as such the Celtics guard is tweaking his pre-game routine – most mundane, but all geared to readiness.
“It’s figuring out what works best for you,” said Irving. “My routine has been pretty much the same for eight straight years, but now it’s time to do things to better suit my body.”
Health has always been a major consideration for Irving. He’s never played a full NBA season, with only three times when Irving played 70 or more regular season games. His high-usage mark was a 75-game season in 2014-15.
Last season’s travails limited him to 60 games, so now’s the time to make adjustments.
The Celtics are the clear East favorite entering the 2018-19 season, and Irving remains a big key to their success.
Entering the 2018-19 season (preseason starts Friday!) the Celtics are the clear East favorites to reach the NBA Finals. But, the games must still be played. Nothing is automatic. A big thing for Boston is getting a healthy Kyrie Irving back in action, alongside of course Gordon Hayward, who missed roughly 99.9% of last season and is now good to go. Here’s Danny Ainge discussing Irving, as reported by the Boston Herald:
As for what he’s looking forward to most with Irving back from his knee maintenance issues that necessitated a second surgery when an infection was found, Ainge said, “I think just having Kyrie’s leadership around the whole year, having him be on the court. He did a lot of good things, like texting the players. He was the biggest cheerleader for Jaylen (Brown) and Jayson (Tatum) and Terry (Rozier) and Marcus (Smart/Morris) and all those guys last year when he wasn’t playing.
“But just having him on the court at the end of games is the thing I’m looking most forward to and having a guy that can beat switches and make shots and make lots of plays. He’s a very special player.”
Ainge is getting no additional pleasure from the fact Irving is talking more about his future in Boston beyond this season in recent interviews. This after being fairly coy about his plans after he does as expected and opts out of his deal next summer to sign a more lucrative and lengthy contract.