I rarely hate on players but I can't touch on Kyrie Irving's constant bullying of all the teams he played in. He did the same thing to Cleveland and now, we are hearing rumors of him trying to re-form his championship duo with LeBron James.
Yes, Russell Westbrook is somewhat of an eyesore to most fans (not me, though) but inasmuch as Kevin Durant would cringe at the sight of Russ, Westbrook is still a player that can play 60 or more games on a prominent basis. The Lakers have an overworked star in LeBron James and an often-injured player in Anthony Davis. They have little to no draft picks in I guess a span of five years and bringing a player like Irving could further ruin their squad.
Kyrie Irving tells everyone that he's a Top 75 player of all time when the first and only time he played at least 75 regular season games was when he was still with the Cavs almost a decade ago. I get that Irving can sit out and let the Nets rot for the rest of the season but at least Brooklyn wouldn't have his contract and another set of bad contracts after this season. This is not the first Brooklyn was in this predicament and after the debacle of the "powerhouse" team that had Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, Joe Johnson, and Deron Williams, they suddenly became contenders with D'Angelo Russell leading the team and with Joe Harris helping things out. If Irving and Durant want to leave, then let them walk.
Durant is also a potential problem but he is stuck with a long contract and a potentially bad end to his career if he sits out the rest of his contract. After the trades of Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert, I doubt if a team is willing to trade half a roster for one aging superstar. Brooklyn can still trade him, but Ben Simmons is the more important problem now given that his game has dropped mightily. If the Nets need to drop a player, then no team will ever trade for a 40-million second-unit enforcer. Kyrie is still Kyrie and Durant will always be Durant but the current form of Simmons can't be a wise choice to keep especially since this is supposedly his prime.
At this point, the Nets must be immune to all of Irving's quirks. Yes, his inclinations are everywhere but they can either lose him to free agency or lose him to interested teams. If Irving continues his trend, then he can go to a team next season without the capabilities of asking for top-star money. He'll also further fall from any Top 75 conversations because especially if Luka Doncic or any first-time MVP awardee will definitely upstage him. The problem with superstar players making superstar threats is that as their careers continue, their threats get old. James Harden's star power just took a hit after playing second fiddle to Joel Embiid in Philadelphia and losing an all-star game spot. Westbrook, Irving, and Durant aren't as sought after as they once were. Even Cleveland fans aren't as keen on bringing LBJ back because he'll definitely mess up the current Cav dynamic.
NBA media is trying to tell us that team owners must relent to their players but at the end of the day, they will still have a say on things. And in the end, they will probably make a contract in which a player must attend all team activities when healthy or expect salary deductions.
I know they have it in their contracts right now but maybe it's time for them to be vocal about it.