Nets: Sean Marks gives update on Kyrie Irving, James Harden extensions

The Brooklyn Nets are going to go as far as Kevin Durant takes them, but they are among the favorites to take home the NBA title next season due to the backcourt of James Harden and Kyrie Irving. That combination of offensive talent might be unequaled across all of basketball.

The Nets made sure to lock in Durant for the foreseeable future, coming to terms with him on a massive contract extension that will keep him in town until 2027. With Irving and Harden staring down the end of their contracts in Brooklyn, fans and front office executives alike want to sign these two to extensions for the long haul.

This won’t be easy, as there are tons of financial hoops the Nets will have to jump through in order to keep players of this stature compensated for their level of play, but with Joe Tsai committed to dipping into the luxury tax in order to keep them together, Sean Marks will likely iron out a deal with these two.

In a press conference along with head coach Steve Nash this week, Marks claimed that he has had “very positive conversations” with Irving, Harden, and their respective families. Marks said that it “always helps to do these things in person” before saying that they were going to resume talks in two weeks.

The Brooklyn Nets want to extend Kyrie Irving and James Harden.

Irving just had arguably the best offensive season of his career, averaging 26.9 points and 4.8 rebounds, and 6.0 assists per game while making 50% of his shots, 40% of his 3-point attempts, and 92% of his free throws. His 50/40/90 averaged put him rarefied air across basketball history.

Harden’s scoring dipped slightly, but with 8.5 rebounds and 10.9 assists per game, he showed that he is willing to impact the game in a number of ways. He’s already second in franchise history in triple-doubles, with Jason Kidd the only player who is exceeding him in that regard. He’s still clocking in under one full season in black and white.

Brooklyn might not have made it to the Finals last year, but that was due to health. Their trio of superstars was rarely all healthy at the same time, and Brooklyn played the last few games of the Milwaukee series with a clearly-hobbled Harden and Irving out due to an ankle injury.

The Nets have mortgaged large chunks of their future, with most of their first-round picks under the control of the Rockets as a result of the Harden trade, and a large helping of their second-rounders having been sent to Detroit to offload DeAndre Jordan’s contract.

The Nets likely made these moves knowing that they will be among the title favorites in the East as long as their core group stays together. Signing these two to extensions should be the top priority for Marks over the next few months, though it appears like both parties want to get something done here.

The Nets not only have one of the rarest and unique assemblages of offensive talent in this sport’s history, but they have the chance to hold on to that talent for the better part of the next decade if Marks can sit down and hammer out deals with Harden and Irving in the coming months.

Nets fans might feel uneasy about the fact that both players remained unsigned, but given their friendships with Durant and the prevailing notion that the pair wants to get a deal done, the official contract may be coming in a few weeks.

Brooklyn will provide fans with an unprecedented amount of scoring punch this year, and they are right to do everything possible to preserve the secondary and tertiary components of this well-oiled machine for as long as possible.

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