NBA Rumors: Shortly after the Brooklyn Nets were eliminated from the NBA Playoffs, Kyrie Irving reiterated that he plans on re-signing with the team.
The Brooklyn Nets season may have ended prematurely, but Kyrie Irving is already looking forward to next season.
Shortly after the Nets were eliminated, Kyrie made it known – and abundantly clear – during his postgame press conference that he intends to re-sign with Brooklyn. Kyrie is eligible to opt out of the final year of his contract this summer. If he does, it seems like it will be to sign a contract extension in Brooklyn.
"“There’s no question about where I’m going and how this is going to happen. I’m here with seven [Durant], but also I’m here to build a great team…“When I say I’m here with Kevin, I think that it really entails us managing this franchise together alongside Joe [Tsai, team owner] and Sean [Marks, GM], and just our group of family members that we have in our locker room, in our organization,” Irving said."
This shouldn’t exactly come as a surprise. Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving are somewhat tied to each other at this point in their careers and, especially considering that they’ve, really, only played one season together, it wouldn’t make sense for them to split this offseason.
Plus, I’m not really sure there would be a huge market for Kyrie. Even though he’s an extraordinary talent, I’m sure there are many around the league that don’t believe he’s worth the trouble. Especially on a long-term deal, which he will likely be seeking this offseason as he heads into his age-31 season.
Plus, the Nets, especially after trading James Harden this past season, are tied to the Kyrie as much as they are to Durant. And Kyrie made as much known when he put himself on the plane as the team owner and general manager during his postgame press conference.
I’m not sure how next season is going to look for the Nets, but you can probably expect Kyrie and, of course, Durant to be leading the way into the next era of basketball for the franchise.