After acrimonious contract negotiations with the Nets, looking for ways to leave Brooklyn and reportedly publicly announcing his decision to opt in before informing the team, Kyrie Irving wants you to know he and the organization aren’t on completely different pages.
Shams Charania of The Athletic:
This is tough to follow. Was Brooklyn willing to do an incentive-laden max deal – just with different incentives than Irving wanted? Or was only Irving on board with that structure?
Clearly, this is spin from Irving’s side. Among the tipoffs: The framing of a potential new player option. Player options don’t protect both sides. Player options protect players. See Irving exercising his player option in his current contract.
But if the Nets and Irving truly came close to a contract extension, perhaps they’ll still sign one. By opting in, Irving remains eligible for an extension. Incentive-laden deals can get complicated. Now, both sides have all offseason to negotiate without the player-option deadline breathing down their necks.
(Really, Irving will be eligible for an extension until June 30, 2023. But once games begin, new factors will emerge. Conditions this offseason for an extension will remain mostly steady.)