Point Guard Kyrie Irving has informed the Brooklyn Nets that he is requesting a trade ahead of the 2022-23 NBA Trade Deadline. Additionally, he has informed the team that if he is not traded ahead of the deadline, he will sign elsewhere in free agency this July. It seems the Brooklyn Nets have dominated headlines in the NBA since the beginning of last offseason when star forward Kevin Durant also requested a trade. While he and the team worked things out it took some time before they did. The 2022-23 NBA Trade Deadline is just days away on February 9th.
Breaking: Brooklyn Nets All-Star Kyrie Irving has requested a trade, league sources tell @TheAthletic @Stadium. The franchise has been informed that Irving prefers to move on ahead of the Feb. 9 trade deadline – or will leave in free agency in July.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) February 3, 2023
This season with the Brooklyn Nets, Kyrie Irving is averaging 27.1 points, 5.1 rebounds, 5.3 assists, and one steal per game. He is pairing those numbers with a field goal percentage of 48.6 percent and a three-point percentage of 37.4 percent. These numbers led to Irving being named a 2022-23 All-Star Game starter. It is unclear if the team will honor the request from Irving, but the threat of losing him for nothing could push them to act.
Kyrie Irving has been embroiled in self-created controversies this year but has been fairly quiet since being brought back from his suspension for sharing a link to a film with anti-Semitic beliefs and then refusing to apologize initially. Talent wise most teams will be interested in landing a player of his caliber, but they will need to be convinced that he will re-sign with the team after the conclusion of this season. With the trade deadline coming up the Nets will have to move quickly.
