Report: Kyrie Irving requests trade from Brooklyn Nets
With less than a week before the Feb. 9 NBA Trade Deadline, Brooklyn Nets star guard Kyrie Irving has requested a trade and prefers to be moved ahead of the deadline, The Athletic‘s Shams Charania first reported Friday.
Irving, who is scheduled to be an unrestricted free agent this upcoming offseason, was reportedly seeking a new deal, but could not ink one with the Nets, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
Per Woj, Irving “has not shared” a list of preferred destinations he’d be willing to go to, but has maintained an interest in the Los Angeles Lakers, who could be on the shortlist of organizations willing to explore a trade.
The Lakers don’t have many — if any — appeasing assets to offer outside its 2027 and 2029 first-round picks. Russell Westbrook is their only realistic money-matching salary the Lakers can offer, but that would cost the Nets an additional $50 million in luxury tax dollars.
Charania notes the Phoenix Suns and Dallas Mavericks as teams with interest. Both teams have enough salary-matching contracts to complete a trade; the Suns possess every one of their first-round picks from 2023-29 to trade, while Dallas can trade their 2025, 2027 and 2029 first-round selections.
All this comes days after the star guard reportedly expressed interest in wanting to remain in Brooklyn long-term. He’s in the final year of a four-year, $136.5 million deal he signed ahead of the 2019-20 season; his cap hit currently registers at $36.9 million, per Spotrac. He doesn’t have a no-trade clause, but does have a 15 percent trade kicker — the max allotted under the current CBA — meaning Irving would be receive a 15 percent bonus from the Nets for the rest of his contract (it’s prorated).
He’s averaging 27.1 points, 5.1 rebounds and 5.3 assists per game. He’s shooting 48.6 percent — including a career-high 56.9 percent on 2s — and 37.4 percent from deep in 40 games this season.
With the deadline six days away, the Nets — the current No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference — and Irving don’t have much time to act. Similarly to over the summer with the Kevin Durant (and Irving) trade saga, the trade market will likely be frozen until the 30-year-old star guard gets dealt, if he does.
This is a breaking news story. Stay tuned for details.
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