The Brooklyn Nets are viewed as a heavy favorite to sign Kyrie Irving when NBA free agency begins, but their real goal this offseason is to land two star players. If Irving is the only one who wants to join them, they may just abandon the plan altogether.
Appearing on “Get Up” Wednesday morning, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski indicated that the Nets may not want Irving if they can’t pair him with another star free agent, such as Kevin Durant.
Woj on Get Up this morning reiterating Nets goal is to bring in Kyrie Irving with another star, namely Kevin Durant. Also says "It'll be interesting to see if Nets are sold on Kyrie as a solo act" If they're not he says they could just bring back DLo if they wanted. pic.twitter.com/xhifPWPwdp
— The Brooklyn Grit (@TheBrooklynGrit) June 19, 2019
“If they don’t get a second star, it will be interesting to see if Brooklyn wants to have Kyrie Irving as a solo act,” Wojnarowski said. “That didn’t go so great in Boston last year. We’ll see if Brooklyn is following through on just Kyrie Irving.”
If the Nets are unable to secure a commitment from another star free agent, Wojnarowski notes that they may decide they would prefer to bring back restricted free agent D’Angelo Russell on a much more team-friendly deal than the one Irving would sign. Russell, 23, is coming off a breakout year in which he averaged 21.1 points and 7.0 assists per game and made his first All-Star team. The former No. 2 pick looked like an emerging star in his second season in Brooklyn, and the Nets currently have a solid young core that won 42 games.
It’s unclear where Irving might sign if the Nets get cold feet, though he seems to have already ruled out one team.
