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Kyrie Irving requests a transaction from the Nets: AP source

Unable to land a new contract, Kyrie Irving is looking for a new address.

The All-Star guard asked the Brooklyn Nets to trade, a person with knowledge of the details said Friday.

The request came less than a week before the trade deadline and could signal the end of his tenure with the franchise, either after or after this season ends.

Irving made the request after negotiations over a new contract didn’t go his way, the person told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the negotiations would be kept private. It was first reported by ESPN and The Athletic.

Irving was eligible for a contract extension, but the Nets refused to renew him last summer. Irving’s agent and stepmother, Shetellia Irving, told Bleacher Report last week that she’s reached out to the Nets about a new deal. Kyrie Irving – whose current contract with the Nets expires after this season – is eligible for a four-year contract worth up to $200 million.

“I’ve reached out to the Nets about this,” Shetellia Irving told Bleacher Report. “We haven’t had any significant conversations so far. The desire is to make Brooklyn home, with the right kind of expansion, meaning the ball is in the Nets’ yard to communicate right now if desired. theirs is the same.”

Irving and the Nets is tipped to move towards a long-term extension in 2021, when Kevin Durant signs on. Instead, Irving proved himself to be unreliable, missing games for reasons unrelated to basketball, and the Nets changed their mind about sticking with a long-term future. long with the point guard.

The Nets – about to lose 43 points in Boston on Wednesday – open five home games on Saturday against Washington. Irving was not listed on their injury report, which means he is available. They played six of the last seven games before the All-Star break at home; the only “road” game in that period was at the New York Knicks.

But whether Irving will be part of any of them remains unclear.

A tweet was posted to Irving’s account shortly before the first reports of the trading claim came out; as is often the case with Irving when it comes to social media posts, not sure what exactly he is referring to in that post.

“To my co-workers: BE YOURSELF and GROW! Surround yourself with people who celebrate you unconditionally and appreciate all the hard work put in. Stay away from sports people shame, hate and hurt,” read the tweet.

Brooklyn is 31-20 this season, fourth in the Eastern Conference standings heading into Friday, and has been leading 4-7 since All-Star teammate Durant injured his knee in a game in Miami on January 8. Durant could return during his time in his home country, as it has been noted that he wants to play in the All-Star Game on February 19 — so , perhaps, he will return to the Nets before that time.

Irving is playing well in Durant’s absence, averaging 30.3 points in the last 10 games. Perhaps that will attract the interest of teams that didn’t want to do a deal for Irving last summer, when he admitted he didn’t find much of a market because of his unreliability. that.

Durant also asked the Nets to trade this past summer, before the cold heads prevailed. And it was around this time last year that Brooklyn traded James Harden – who was part of what the Nets thought would be the Big Three of him, Durant and Irving – to the Philadelphia 76ers in a deal that brought Ben Simmons to Brooklyn.

Whatever happens between now and Thursday, this is officially the start of another new story centered around Irving, who signed his hometown team with Durant in the summer of 2019.

He was given an eight-match ban by the Nets earlier this season after the team said they were disappointed he had repeatedly failed to “unequivocally say he has no anti-Semitic beliefs.” It came shortly after Irving refused to issue an apology that NBA Commissioner Adam Silver sought to post a link to an anti-Semitic piece on his Twitter feed. Irving also lost his long-standing relationship with Nike as a result of his tweets and subsequent reactions.

“I don’t support anything that comes close to hate speech or anti-Semitism or anything against humanity,” Irving said on the day the Nets reinstated him in November.

Irving also missed most of the 2021-22 season because of his refusal to get a COVID-19 vaccine, which made him essentially ineligible to play Brooklyn’s home games for most of the season. due to New York City rules put in place in response to the pandemic.

He has also expressed no shortage of controversial opinions during his career — including repeatedly questioning whether the Earth is round before finally apologizing to the teachers. science.

Irving has also been out of action for the 20-21 season, and general manager Sean Marks said this past summer that game readiness will be something the organization considers when considering an extension for Irving.

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AP basketball writer Tim Reynolds contributed to this report.



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