Brooklyn Nets: Welcome to NBA silly season, Nets fans
By Phil Watson
With multiple and conflicting reports that Kyrie Irving was spotted at a New York night club with several Brooklyn Nets players, the madness is heating up.
As if Brooklyn Nets fans needed confirmation, the organization is in a very different place than it has ever been before.
Simply put, these are not your parents’ old New Jersey Nets. Heck, they aren’t every your older sibling’s Brooklyn Nets.
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The Nets as an organization have never been seen as a free agent destination. Last summer was uncharacteristically good for Brooklyn in free agency, as they landed useful role players in Ed Davis and Shabazz Napier while also adding Treveon Graham on a team-friendly deal.
In terms of the biggest-name free agent the Nets have added, it would probably be Jeremy Lin‘s three-year, $36 million deal in July 2016. But Lin only played in 37 games over two seasons in Brooklyn and was a salary-dump victim last summer.
So being linked to the biggest names in free agency is a new thing for the Nets and their fan base.
Based on Thursday’s news cycle, it is shaping up to be a wild next 3½ weeks leading up to the official opening of free agency at 6 p.m. Eastern on June 30.
According to Anthony Puccio of Nets Daily, Kyrie Irving was seen at the trendy 40/40 club with several Nets players.
I’m told that Kyrie Irving was indeed at the 40/40 club with a few Brooklyn Nets players last night, including Caris LeVert, Jared Dudley, Theo Pinson and Alan Williams. #Nets
— Anthony Puccio (@APOOCH) June 6, 2019
That report was contradicted by Michael Scotto of The Athletic.
Kyrie Irving did not hang out with Brooklyn Nets players last night at 40/40 club, league sources told The Athletic.
— Michael Scotto (@MikeAScotto) June 6, 2019
Later, Alex Kennedy of HoopsHype tried to cut through the confusion.
Source close to the situation confirms that Kyrie Irving and several Brooklyn Nets players were all at the 40/40 club last night, but they weren't together. Each group had their own private room, hence the confusion.
— Alex Kennedy (@AlexKennedyNBA) June 6, 2019
With less than a month before the start of free agency, this is what the news cycle will look like.
The Kyrie-to-Brooklyn talk heated up to a boil this week, beginning when Stephen A. Smith of ESPN declared that Irving has given “every indication” he wants to come to the Nets.
For his part, Boston Celtics executive Danny Ainge was guarded when asked about Irving’s status with the club for next season.
Danny Ainge says we'll have to wait and see what happens with Kyrie Irving this summer. pic.twitter.com/K5vbsQj1er
— Celtics on NBC Sports Boston (@NBCSCeltics) June 5, 2019
Getting back to the night on the town at the 40/40, Alan Williams — one of the Brooklyn players reportedly at the club — said Irving wasn’t part of his group.
https://twitter.com/alantwilliams/status/1136703803292639233
With the Nets reportedly trading Allen Crabbe and opening up $15 million more in cap space for this summer, the rumor mill surrounding Irving and other premier free agents to be, such as Kevin Durant and possibly Kawhi Leonard, is likely to continue to boil.
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So buckle up, Nets fans. It looks like it’s going to be a turbulent next few weeks.