Nets general manager Sean Marks said the team hasn’t had conversations with Kyrie Irving yet about the mercurial star guard’s contract, adding they’ll see if staying together is “the right fit.”
Marks met with the media last week, and also recorded an interview that aired on YES Network on Monday. He addressed Irving’s $36.9 million player option for next season, and the fact the All-Star can commit to the Nets long term, become a free agent next year or even hit free agency this summer if he chooses.
Talks between Irving, Marks and Nets owner Joe Tsai have yet to happen.
“I look forward to [it],” Marks told YES Network. “We have not had a conversation yet. So I look forward to getting in a room with him and Joe and his team, and we will. We’ll see what it looks like for Kyrie moving forward here, and what he needs from us and so forth.
“So, again, it wouldn’t be right for me to comment on what hypothetical could happen, because we don’t know. We haven’t had those conversations with Kyrie yet. But when they do, we’ll see if it’s the right fit for both sides.”
Irving has been ubiquitous since the start of the 2021-22 season, even when he was nowhere to be found on the court. It’s a growing concern not just between Irving and the Nets, but between the NBA and its stars such as Irving, Ben Simmons and James Harden.
The refusal to adhere to New York City’s COVID-19 vaccine mandates essentially cost Irving 53 games and likely contributed to the Nets’ early exit from the playoffs.
“You want people here to be part of something bigger than themselves. It’s a team sports team game. It’s not individuals,” Marks said. “We want people to be here for the right reasons, and buy into their roles, find their roles, high-character guys.
“We want to avoid the drama, we want to avoid the distractions. These last couple years here, whether it was expectation set on…