Add the Round Mound of Rebound to the list of those who think Kyrie Irving should be an ex-Net this time next year…if not sooner.
Charles Barkley, speaking at a media scrum Wednesday to promote a charity golf tournament, was asked what he thinks the Nets should do with Kyrie, and, well, the news for Kyrie is, as Chuck would say, 'turrible.'
“If it was me, I would say, ‘Hey, guy, we can’t trust you, what you’re going to do. We’re going to pay you that $36 million next year to see if you’re going to act right. If you don’t act right with $36 million, you definitely ain’t going to act right with $240 million. I’m not giving you a four-year extension for $200 million because we can’t count on you,’” Barkley said.
The Nets may not even have to pay Irving that $36 million -- $36.5 million to be exact – because that salary comes on a player option, which Kyrie has until June 29 to exercise.
Barkley, however, spoke that way because he believes Irving will opt in.
“He’s got one year left with this option. He’s going to pick it up,” Barkley said. “And we’re going to see how he behaves next year.”
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Irving was part of the monster free agent class of 2019 that brought Kevin Durant and others to Brooklyn, but he has played in just 123 of 226 regular-season games in three years, thanks to injuries, a self-imposed sabbatical, and, this season, his refusal to get the COVID-19 vaccine, which forced him to miss 53 games as the Nets initially benched him completely, then allowed him to play road games only before New York City amended its workplace vaccine mandates.
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