NBA rumors: Kyrie Irving accepts sad reality of Nets trade talks

Kyrie Irving seems to have accepted the fact he is likely playing for the Brooklyn Nets this year.

In what has been a tumultuous offseason for the Brooklyn Nets, they might actually be able to count on one thing: Kyrie Irving is probably coming back to the team.

Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report said on his podcast Please Don’t Aggregate This that “from [his] conversations with people in the league, [it] seems pretty clear Kyrie’s accepting the fact that he is overwhelmingly likely to be back in Brooklyn.”

Irving has been with his hometown Nets for the last three seasons, making his seventh trip to the All-Star Game only two years ago. While he was limited to only 29 games of action last season due to not believing in mandates, Irving has already accepted his player option for the 2022-23 NBA season. With Kevin Durant and Ben Simmons on the Nets’ roster, why not give this a shot?

Despite the ongoing rumors of him being traded to the Los Angeles Lakers, Irving could stay put.

NBA rumors: Kyrie Irving seems to have accepted he will be on the Brooklyn Nets

Irving may be on the wrong side of 30, but if he wants to join his fourth team within the next year or so, that may still happen. Exercising the player option certainly complicates things, but there is a chance he could be dealt at some point during next season. In the meantime, let’s see if the Nets can be more than a theoretical basketball team and start playing like a championship-caliber one.

Unique personalities have made this thing in Brooklyn a total crapshoot, but on paper, this has a chance to be a strong team. Durant remains a top-five player in the league who can get a bucket from anywhere. When healthy and mentally locked in, Simmons is among the very best wing defenders in the game, as well as an adept ball-handler. Irving is an outstanding scorer guard.

Of course, the Nets will have to overcome their own self-inflicted limitations to get to anywhere they want to go next spring. However, there is a chance this chemistry experiment gone wrong could prove us all wrong if the stars align in one shining moment. In a best-case scenario, maybe this team gets to the Eastern Conference Finals? That might be something worthy of exploring.

Irving may be reluctantly going back to the Nets, but hey, he could be going to a rebuilding team.