Even for Kyrie Irving, this ending may very well be spectacular in its scope.
In all places the spectacle that’s Irving has gone has been left reeling when he has abruptly exited. He has quit super-teams (Cavaliers and now Nets), alienated former teammates (Celtics) and created messes that he never had to scrub up (all three). This time, though, it may not just be one team that’s left in a lurch.
Sure, the Nets could implode. However the Mavericks, who convinced themselves they might pacify a superstar whom three other teams couldn’t, have taken a monumental risk in putting Irving next to Luka Doncic. And the primary signs out of Lakers camp signal LeBron James shouldn’t be taking rejection well after the team couldn’t work out how one can make a James-Irving reunion work.
There are scenarios — not even far-fetched ones! — by which Irving’s past few days could lead on to the destruction of three separate NBA organizations. In demanding a trade away from an Eastern Conference contender and forcing each team to measure how much it craves glory and the way much pain it may possibly stomach, Irving has knocked down a captivating domino.
Within the wake of the Nets acquiescing to Irving one last time and fulfilling his trade request Sunday, let’s imagine what could go fallacious — because when Irving is involved along with your favorite NBA team, things are likely to go fallacious.
Nets: What if Kevin Durant, absent the buddy he signed as much as play alongside, requests a trade (for the second time) tomorrow? What if, learning from Irving, Durant plays dirty and threatens to sit down out the remaining of the season if GM Sean Marks doesn’t accede to the demand? Sure, the Nets could get a treasure trove of young players and picks in return, but no comparable stars can be heading to Brooklyn.
Tanking, by the best way, shouldn’t be an option, and never solely for moral reasons. The Nets cannot draft with their very own first-round pick — either sending it out altogether or subject to trade swaps with the Rockets — in 2024, ’25 and ’26 after their first trade involving James Harden.
Perhaps Durant, who at all times has appeared to prioritize the sport in a way Irving doesn’t, stays on the court, stays on the Nets and allows Marks a probability to piece together a contender at this trade deadline. The chances of the Nets, who essentially have lost two superstars in Irving and the maybe-lost, currently injured Ben Simmons, winning a title this 12 months have shrunk considerably.
Durant will turn 35 in September. As he gazes into his NBA future, does he think the Nets can quickly usher in one other star to assemble a team that has an actual shot in an upcoming Finals? Or during this offseason, would he determine he is healthier off playing next to, say, Phoenix’s Devin Booker, and asks for a trade again?
Without Irving keeping him in Brooklyn, Durant’s future — and thus, the Nets’ — is wide open.
Mavericks: The temptation of linking Doncic with Irving is apparent, but so is the potential downfall.
There are immediate fit issues to think about: Doncic and Irving each need the ball of their hands to be at their best, and neither plays much defense. The Mavericks, who already weren’t a robust defensive team, lost their best perimeter defender in Dorian Finney-Smith and lost three inches in subtracting 6-foot-5 Spencer Dinwiddie for the 6-foot-2 (if that) Irving.
With Finney-Smith and Dinwiddie, the Mavericks were the seventh-worst defensive team within the NBA, allowing 114.9 points per 100 possessions. Without them, the Mavericks can have to outgun every opponent.
After which there are the long-term issues. Irving is a free agent at season’s end, and may very well be blown in several other directions. If Mark Cuban does sign Irving long-term, the Mavericks would receive a fabulous talent and prodigious headache who’s as reliable because the “Office Space” printer.
Even if the Mavericks re-sign Irving and even if Irving — for the primary time in his NBA life — focuses solely on basketball, there are not any guarantees this talented but flawed star pairing will work. What if Doncic, still in search of his first title, leaves as a free agent in summer 2026, when he can opt out of his current deal? What if he tires of Irving before that?
That unprotected 2029 first-round pick the Mavericks just handed the Nets would loom large.
Lakers: Irving destroyed the 2021-22 Nets while barely playing. Can he now help dismantle a team without even being on the roster?
The Lakers — in thirteenth place within the 15-team Western Conference — likely saw Irving because the only available superstar whom they might pair with James for a possible late-season playoff run. They reportedly dangled each their available first-round picks, in 2027 and 2029, in talks with Marks, however the Nets opted for the Mavericks’ offer. It is feasible the Nets didn’t wish to send Irving, who has made amends with James after their divorce in Cleveland and was an in depth friend of Kobe Bryant’s, to the destination he most desired.
Whatever the reasoning, the Lakers failed. James, probably listening to Blink-182 and channeling his high-school self, got lost in his feelings.
“Perhaps It’s Me,” he tweeted Sunday after he missed out on yet one more star teammate.
James is signed through 2023-24, but what if the 38-year-old decides he doesn’t wish to spend another season languishing with a team that has not won enough with him and Anthony Davis? Would losing out on Irving push him toward a premature exit to search out a clearer route toward one other ring?
We’ll discover. The primary domino has fallen.
Today’s back page
Read more:
🏈 SERBY: Patrick Mahomes’ barber believes his scissors hold key to Super Bowl
🏒 BROOKS: Alexis Lafrenière could have had breakout moment Rangers were waiting for … see it: Jacob Trouba delivers helmet-launching hit
🏀 Nets waste Cam Thomas’ 47 points to lose in first game since Kyrie trade
Postcard from Phoenix
The Post’s team of football writers are in Phoenix this week to cover the Super Bowl. What’s it prefer to be there and soak up the sights and sounds leading as much as the large game? This edition is from Brian Costello, who shares an NFL version of Sightings:
As passengers waited to board United Flight 1236 from Newark Airport to Phoenix on Monday morning, you can see a couple of do a double take.
Is that …? Yes, that was Giants coach Brian Daboll heading to Arizona within the early hours Monday.
Daboll’s Giants didn’t make it to the Super Bowl, but Daboll is a finalist for NFL Coach of the 12 months, which can be handed out at NFL Honors on Thursday. Daboll hung out on the gate talking to Giants fans, posing for selfies and cracking jokes. After I identified that Daboll probably could get on the plane early if he let the gate agents know who he was, he stayed behind the road and cracked, “I’m just blissful to get on the plane.”
After we landed in Phoenix, there have been more fans waiting for him at baggage claim. As one walked away with a recent photo in her phone, she said, “Well, my trip is made.”
The NFL Honors has a red carpet entrance like other awards shows. As we departed, I told Daboll I might see him on the red carpet. “I’ll be the one in sweats,” he cracked.
Steve’s sticker shock
In August, The Post’s Mike Puma checked out the Mets’ impending free agents, did some contract estimates and determined the Mets would must run their payroll to about $345 million simply to return the identical 101-win team from last season.
It is feasible Steve Cohen didn’t read that article.
The Mets owner talked with ESPN for a story published Monday by which this spending spree — guaranteeing nearly $500 million to free agents this winter and running his 2023 payroll as much as a projected, competitive-balance-tax record of $369.9 million, in accordance with Cot’s Contracts — and acknowledged he didn’t quite see this coming.
“I didn’t know I used to be going to must spend like I did,” Cohen told ESPN. “I actually was a bit of naive in that regard. But once I got comfortable and realized, OK, what’s it going to take to place an ideal team on the sphere, I still had made a commitment to the fans, and to baseball, that I used to be going to are available and switch this thing around. I got here in saying I’m all-in. And I keep my word.”
Mets fans aren’t complaining, even after Carlos Correa’s $315 million pact fell through.
Since Cohen took over, the hope has been that the Mets’ farm system would begin producing quality young talent, which can be supplemented by free-agent splashes. The farm system shouldn’t be ready yet, so Cohen’s wallet is keeping the Mets afloat and competitive for now.
He outlined this plan early, but not even he realized how expensive it might be.
Tom Brady takes some me-time
For the primary time since 1999, the NFL will hold a season absent Tom Brady.
Brady, fresh off announcing his retirement, said Monday he would enjoy a spot 12 months in 2023 before joining Fox Sports’ top NFL broadcast booth in fall 2024.
After 23 NFL seasons, the last of which included a divorce, taking a while for himself and his family could be a clever move.
“Decompression’s really vital,” Brady said on FS1’s “The Herd with Colin Cowherd.” “You’re on this really crazy treadmill, hamster wheel, for a very long time, loving the moment and journey. At the identical time, it’s a every day fight.
“I even have appreciation for therefore many people who are so committed on daily basis to showing up, to place their max effort into their life and profession. For me, I need to be great at what I do — talking, even last week, with the people at Fox Sports, and the leadership there, allowing me to begin my Fox opportunity in 2024, something that’s great for me.”
For Fox, this implies Kevin Burkhardt and Greg Olsen will remain as the highest broadcast team for another season.
For Brady, this implies he has committed to 1 entire 12 months faraway from NFL Sundays. In fact, as soon as a top quarterback gets hurt, rumors will flow into concerning whether Brady is fully, 100% retired.
“I’ve loved my time in football,” Brady said. “It’s hard to make decisions [like retirement], but it surely’s actually the correct time.”
