Kyrie Irving and the Brooklyn Nets don’t see eye-to-eye when it comes to the All-Star guard’s contract extension.
As Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN reports, the two sides are heading to different directions in extension talks.
“Listen, people try to gain leverage. If you’re Kyrie Irving, you’re trying to go get the Nets to give you a longer-term deal with more guaranteed money than they want to give.
The Nets are trying to go in the other direction—shorter deal, incentivized, because he just hasn’t been on the floor as much as they’d like the couple years.
This is getting acrimonious, and I think that’s the concern when you look at not just Kyrie Irving’s future in Brooklyn, but Kevin Durant’s future and whether they can hold this thing together right now,” Wojnarowski said, via Paul Kasabian of Bleacher Report.
Kyrie Irving has until June 29 to pick up his player option, worth $36.9M, and avoid free agency. He plans to do so and then ask a sign-and-trade deal from the Nets.
For its part, Brooklyn wants to re-sign Irving, but on a short-term deal, whereas the former NBA champion seeks a longer-term contract.
