Kyrie Irving reportedly requested a trade from the Brooklyn Nets on Friday.
According to Shams Charania of The Athletic, Irving, a multi-time NBA All-Star and former NBA champion, formally requested the move and made it clear when he’d prefer to be traded as well.
“Breaking: Brooklyn Nets All-Star Kyrie Irving has requested a trade,” Charania tweeted. “The franchise has been informed that Irving prefers to move on ahead of the Feb. 9 trade deadline – or will leave in free agency in July.”
This is obviously a massive update and one that can significantly alter the NBA season. The Nets sat 4th in the Eastern Conference on Friday with a record of 31-20. They are 5.5 games behind the conference-leading Boston Celtics, 3.5 games behind the Milwaukee Bucks, and 2.5 behind the Philadelphia 76ers.
Trading Kyrie would drastically change the Nets, and that’s to say nothing about what a potential trade could mean for fellow star Kevin Durant, either.
Irving has had a tumultuous time with the Nets, to say the least. He decided to not vaccinate himself against COVID-19. This led to him missing significant time, as the Nets navigated through home games and select road games without him. Then, there were several controversial incidents surrounding antisemitism. The NBA suspended Irving after that controversy.
The NBA world reacted to the stunning news on Friday afternoon.
Nets fans seeing this Kyrie Irving trade request pic.twitter.com/ha4iFVGs4x
— Complex Sports (@ComplexSports) February 3, 2023
About Chris Novak
Chris Novak has been talking and writing about sports ever since he can remember. Previously, Novak wrote for and managed sites in the SB Nation network for nearly a decade from 2013-2022