The Brooklyn Nets have plenty of reasons to be concerned about Kyrie Irving moving forward.
The Brooklyn Nets were the talk of NBA free agency last summer when they pulled off the signings of Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving within a span of a few hours. With the former recovering from a ruptured Achilles suffered in the Finals, the Nets were never expected to accomplish much of anything in the 2019-20 season.
If nothing else, it was meant to serve as a tryout to see how the younger players meshed with Irving.
Unfortunately for Brooklyn, the test run was a genuine disaster, which prompted fans to begin expressing their concerns with Irving. Not only did the Nets post a better record with Irving out of the lineup, but he didn’t hesitate to roast his teammates — and the roster as a whole — when the team was in a funk.
With all of this in mind, let’s highlight a few reasons why fans in Brooklyn are wholly justified in being worried about Kyrie moving forward.
3. Unpredictable Personality/Lack of Leadership
Kyrie Irving’s track record with leadership isn’t the greatest.
The reason Irving is so polarizing in NBA circles is because you never know which form of him you’re going to get on a nightly basis. One night, he could be the guy who showers his teammates with love and adoration. Less than 48 hours later, however, he could take to the microphone and absolutely rip them apart in front of the media.
We’ll never forget what Irving told reporters following a loss to the Philadelphia 76ers in January.
“I mean, it’s transparent. It’s out there,” he said. “It’s glaring, in terms of the pieces that we need in order to be at that next level. We’ll worry about all the other stuff, in terms of moving pieces and everything else, as an organization down the line in the summer. It’s just something that we signed up for.”
If you think that’s bad, a report surfaced back in October which claimed that the Nets were growing increasingly concerned with Irving’s “mood swings.” That’s something a franchise just shouldn’t have to worry about with a superstar.
As far as leadership is concerned, we all know that Irving isn’t an alpha, and that is absolutely a reason Brooklyn should be walking on eggshells.