The Brooklyn Nets made the James Harden deal official on Thursday morning, so GM Sean Marks met the media to discuss it – and of course, Kyrie Irving ended up as a big topic of conversation.
Good news on the Harden front: he will join the team in Brooklyn on Thursday, and hope is that he can play “as soon as possible,” as soon as everyone involved in the deal passes physicals.
"When you have the opportunity to add James Harden to your roster, you do everything you can to make that happen," Marks said. “All I heard from James is, 'I want to win.'"
As for Kyrie? His situation had no bearing on the Nets’ deal for Harden – “completely separate situations,” Marks said – but the GM noted that the team has spoken with Irving, and hopes he will return soon.
“He’s excited to get back on the court as soon as possible,” Marks said.
Within that, though, Marks noted that the team wishes Irving hadn’t gone absent, and his ultimate availability remains subject to the NBA’s investigation into the video of Irving seen maskless at a large gathering.
“Without a doubt...I’m not going to shy away from it, without a doubt the organization is disappointed with not having any one of our players, in this particular case Kyrie, not amongst us, not in the trenches with us and so forth,” Marks said. “Kyrie has been keeping up with his health and safety protocols and testing daily, so since he’s been doing that, it’s out of my hands….but the league is reviewing (the party video). We look forward to addressing with Kyrie when he’s back in our building amongst his teammates, amongst his Nets family and going from there.”
Marks also wouldn’t speculate or reveal the reasons for Irving’s absence, only saying it will by Kyrie who reveals it in due time if desired.
“We will let Kyrie address this in his own way,” Marks said. “If there's reasonable excuses for the absences, we’ve got to support, whether it’s our players or our staff, and you would do that in any industry. But, you also hope that there is a more than adequate excuse as to why he needs personal time and he will address that without a doubt. I’ve had conversations with him and I’ll continue to have conversations and I look forward to him being back in the gym. He’s part of our family and we’ll continue to build with the group that’s here.”
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