Kyrie Irving could throw a big wrench in the Brooklyn Nets’ championship chances.
Just a few weeks ago, a straw poll likely would’ve revealed that the Brooklyn Nets were heavy favorites to not only win the Eastern Conference but to win the 2022 NBA championship. And perhaps with little resistance.
However, once training camp opened and Kyrie Irving wasn’t present, the tone around this team begun to change. Considering that he’s still hasn’t participated in a training camp practice and that Nets head coach Steven Nash doesn’t know if that will change anytime soon, and you can’t blame the recent hesitance surrounding this team.
Nets' certainty in having whole team available when the season starts diminishing with Kyrie Irving absent again.
— Brian Mahoney (@briancmahoney) October 6, 2021
"As it stands now, no," Steve Nash said. "So we’ll see what happens."
If Kyrie doesn’t change his stance on the vaccine, which he reportedly hasn’t taken, he won’t be able to participate in home practices or in home games. That means he’ll essentially be limited to away games until either Kyrie becomes vaccinated or New York changes its current law.
The doubt around Kyrie’s availability should have an impact on the NBA as a whole, and specifically the Eastern Conference. Many are quick to rebuttal that the Nets are still title contenders without Kyrie, which I suppose is true.
A team led by James Harden and Kevin Durant would be considered a title threat. But that’s also not accounting for the non-basketball impact that this potential distraction could have for the team in the locker room and when they’re playing games.
Brooklyn will probably say all the right things, as will the players. They’ll say they support Kyrie, and as they should. The Nets knew how this relationship was going to go when they signed him. And they got a healthy taste of what could await them this season last year.
Maybe everything will smooth over and Kyrie and the Nets embrace him becoming a part-time player and they win the championship this season. If so, this will only be another blip in his curious, yet successful career.
Though, if not, there’s a very real chance that Kyrie could end up derailing Brooklyn’s season and dynasty.
The ball is in Kyrie’s court and, from all indications, it seems as if the Nets are perfectly fine with that.