Kyrie Irving reportedly was “eager” for James Harden to be traded after hearing that the Nets star wanted another change of scenery, and while he didn’t address those reports after Thursday night’s loss to Washington, he did acknowledge that everybody seemed to have gotten what they wanted.
“They got better, we feel like we got better, and we’ll see where this race ends up,” Irving said. “That’s the fun part of basketball.”
Harden leaves Brooklyn with plenty of haters in his wake, having lasted less than a year with the Nets after reportedly wanting to be traded once again. Ben Simmons, the headliner in the return coming to the Nets, leaves plenty of dislike himself in Philadelphia, having not played a single game yet this season after he was at the center of trade rumors since his playoff mishaps last season. But now that he has a change of scenery, Irving his ready to see his new teammate thrive.
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“I think we’ll finally get to hear from him and hear his side,” Irving said. “I don’t want to speak for anybody…I just want everyone to have a peace of mind. This basketball game, it’s mentally, physically, and emotionally draining at times when you’ve got a lot going on. I want Ben to be at peace, I want James to be at peace, I want everyone involved in this today to be at peace, and we move forward as a team and see what we look like when the marathon really starts in April.”
Irving has known Simmons for a while, and the other pieces coming to the Nets as part of Thursday’s blockbuster deal.
“We definitely have familiarity with each other,” Irving said of Simmons. “I got to see Ben when he was 16 in Australia when I was over there…the collection of guys, [Andre Drummond] coming in as well, I’ve played against him for 10 years now, there’s a lot of things to look forward to when we get these pieces together and see what it looks like.”
Simmons will have a lot of rust to shake off, and his last showing in the NBA was an apparent battle with the yips when it came to his dreadful playoff shooting, but he is still and elite defender and facilitator who can get the ball to Brooklyn’s bonafide scorers in Irving, Kevin Durant and new 3-point sharpshooter Seth Curry.
“When I look at Ben, I see so many different skills he can bring out to the floor for us and how many different positions he can play for us,” Irving said. “Him doing that and coming to our team and adding that depth, I’m really excited.”
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