Brooklyn Nets: Problematic pairing of Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving

Irving as a leader has been less than stellar

As a Rookie of the Year winner and eventual All-Star for Cleveland, Irving never led the Cavs to the playoffs from 2011-14.

It took the return of LeBron James, addition of Kevin Love and subsequent formation of a superteam to propel Cleveland into the playoffs as perennial title contenders. That team was never led by Irving despite him playing excellent basketball in their lone title run in 2016.

Before Kyrie went to Boston, the Celtics finished as a top seed in the Eastern Conference.

After signing Kyrie in 2017 they dropped to a No. 2 seed.

In this year’s playoffs the Celtics dropped to a fourth seed and were eliminated early in the second round of the playoffs by Milwaukee.

Each year they regressed with Kyrie.

This precipitated an ugly falling out between Irving and the Celtics. Irving wanted out of Boston as much as Boston wanted to be rid of him.

In an ESPN article, the details of the chemistry problems between Irving, Brad Stevens and his former teammates in Boston became public knowledge.

Regarding the 2019 season Irving said:

"“We come into this season, expectations, and it’s real. Everyone from the coaching staff to the players, it’s very much real every single day, so that’s new. It’s tough. It’s hard.”"

Irving admitted he has difficulties dealing with high expectations. That is not a trait of a quality leader and franchise cornerstone player. He will certainly have high expectations to help Brooklyn win now if he is signed there in free agency.

If paired with Durant, Irving will not have much help from Durant in the upcoming season. Durant is expected to miss the majority of the season. How will Irving handle the adversity of having to carry a young Brooklyn team as their leader?

Combine this uphill battle with intense New York media scrutiny and high expectations, and next season could be a wash for Brooklyn.

Even worse, the Nets don’t have a first-round draft pick of their own in next year’s draft, so unless next season is indeed a wash and the Nets bottom out and go into the lottery, their 2020 first-round pick will be conveyed to the Hawks.

That pick was traded to Atlanta in the Allen Crabbe salary dump trade which cost the Nets this year’s 17th overall draft pick and next year’s lottery-protected first round pick.

It’s important to note Boston had a winning team, positive team culture and a very talented roster to surround Irving. While Brooklyn may have a positive team culture, they don’t have the same talent level on their roster that Boston did when they signed Irving.

It’s unrealistic to expect Kyrie to sign with Brooklyn and turn them into a contender since it did not work in Boston. Given Irving’s track record of being a difficult teammate in Boston, the Nets would be endangering their team culture by adding such potential toxicity into the mix.

By all accounts, Irving’s leadership is highly questionable based on how his team’s performed with him as their leader.