Kyrie Irving looked at the situation of his “best friend” Kevin Durant — requesting a trade that made him the center of the NBA universe and throwing the Nets’ future into uncertain territory — and he summed up what the past few months have been like for Brooklyn.
“Being in the middle of it, it was kind of like a clusterf–k,” Irving said Monday at Nets Media Day about Durant’s offseason, in which he tried -— unsuccessfully — to force his way out. “All of this — all of the stories. We’ve come up with all of the narratives surrounding this team that it’s hard to answer every single question.”
There were plenty for him and his team to answer. Irving, who opted in to the final year of his contract, said he understood why Durant wanted out.
“There was a level of uncertainty in this building not just for last year but for the last few years,” said Irving, who agreed with the cultural issues Durant cited minutes before. “That accountability that he asked for should be available and accessible at all times.”
Irving, who could have opted out, said he was close to leaving. He said there “were options” but “not many.” He acknowledged he now has a reputation that leaves teams concerned with whether he will be available for full seasons.
Part of that reputation comes from his unvaccinated status, which he claimed played a large part in not securing a long-term deal.
“I gave up four years, $100-something million deciding to be unvaccinated, and that was the decision,” said Irving, who declined to give more details about his contractual conversations with the Nets. “… I had to deal with that real-life circumstance of losing my job for this decision.”
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