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Well, we've played 5 games and the inevitable Kyrie drama has begun.

(Full disclosure: I detest Kyrie, for what I have to believe are obvious reasons.)

I was willing to give the Nets this season to see how it would look with Kyrie playing for a contract and Simmons playing for redemption -- mostly because I didn't think there were really any better options -- but at this point it looks at least 90% likely that this season is going to be a train wreck. I think there is NFW that Kyrie will be back with the team next season and that next summer Marks will probably pay someone to take Simmons and try to convince KD to stay for a rebuild around KD, Clax, a high draft pick and whatever FA they can sign this summer, and it's 50/50 whether KD will stay in that situation.

But my question for this thread is about this season: will the train wreck that is unfolding include Kyrie departing during the season, or will we have to wait until next summer? On the one hand, as an upcoming UFA he has a ton of financial incentive to stick it out, keep his head down and produce on the court. On the other hand, he's a self-absorbed bozo who can't control himself. This is highly likely to result in either him deciding to check out for one reason or another, or the team telling him to get lost, as they did last season, or perhaps trading him, although the latest drama makes that outcome less likely, as he's even less attractive to other teams now.

I think he'll be gone before the end of the season, with the most likely reason being that they tell him to stay away from the team.

If he keeps playing like he has so far I think more teams will come around to the idea of at least trading for him as a rental. He could do his usual thing, throw a tantrum and hide it behind something else so that he doesn't go to a team he doesn't want to, but given he's seemingly playing for a big contract I doubt that would come into play.

So what I'm trying to say is no. I can see him being traded especially if the team continues trending in the wrong direction as it has so far.

Yea, unless there's a legit playoff path for us, I expect a trade by the deadline.

His clown show off court needs no retelling

It's honestly kind of fascinating. What is this dude's next contract going to look like? On the one hand, he remains, pound for pound, one of the most talented basketball players in the league. On the other, can you name a future Kyrie headline that you wouldn't believe? What's the next topic he's going to "just ask questions about"?

The extent to which KD has hitched his wagon to this absolute clown has been a real eye-opener, to boot. Amazing that someone so obsessed with their own legacy - one that, properly managed, should have been bulletproof - has so consistently managed to tarnish it at every turn.

I sure hope not. Gonna be miserable season if he stays.

Who knows maybe a new coach will handle him better

1) Will KD last the season? If Yes, then Kyrie will stick around. If No then...
2) Are the Lakers in playoff contention by the deadline? If Yes, Irving to LAL, if No then...
3) How cheaply is Marks willing to give him away? Some competitor may be willing to give up a bad contract and a pick to rent him for a playoff run.

I cannot, in any shape or form, support this team anymore under these conditions. Nevermind Nash, Marks. nevermind Simmons, or KD. It's Kyrie who is the biggest issue here, and has been from day 1. He needs to go before I can ever reconsider watching another second of this team playing, or spending a dime to attend a game at Barclays.

Kyrie's open defiance in that press conference leads me to believe that not only does he fully entertain antisemitism, but subscribes to nonsense like this:

I mean, this is just appallingly ignorant considering the fact that Hitler hated Black people, and forcibly sterilized Afro-Germans, including children, during the Holocaust. You can imagine what that involved.

Nevermind the fact that the sourcing here is so outrageous, someone would have to be literally braindead to take this as even remotely credible.

Kyrie is very, very ignorant, almost to the point of being belligerent about it. Any person who even remotely subscribes to this stuff is in need of an actual education, and need to stop listening to grifters posing as YouTube scholars, or the Black Israelite dickheads in Times Square yelling at white people walking by that Hitler had a secret crush on Black people and they're glad that he gassed the Jews (yes, I have seen this myself in person. The people who spread the Black Israelite Ideology are unhinged). This is just as stupid as it gets.

^^^#1 and 2 are purely religious things that I could care less about. I'm agnostic and I don't subscribe to any religion or arguments surrounding religious text written by men.

It's #3 that I have a serious issue with: holocaust denialism. Now you're fully into KKK/Neo Nazi territory. Kyrie continues to flirt with this element of society, and they in turn use him as a poster boy to help legitimize their ideology with younger people/non white kids. He called members of the press pawns, but Kyrie is a huge pawn himself, first for the antivax movement (which was pushed heavily by the extreme American far right) and now antisemitism. Kanye posting a pic of Kyrie on his IG and calling him a "real one" for being an antisemite like he is was no accident.

Antisemitism is one of the main pillars of white supremacist ideology. Black men who uphold this ideology are nothing more than pawns for the very same people that want to kill us.

Also, I am sure the whataboutism regarding Joe Tsai will be put forth in response to this. That's fine too. I think Joe Tsai needs to sell the team for a number of reasons, including his alleged involvement with Alibaba's funding of the genocide of Muslims in China.

It hasn't been fun these last three years, and this is pretty much where I draw the line in the sand. I won't judge anyone who wants to stick around for this sh*tshow to continue to race down the toilet, but count me out yall. One love to mods and regulars who I've befriended over the years.

A large scale reset is in order... Sacrificing the culture built in the Atkinson years was a mistake.

I certainly hope not.

I don't see how you can just brush this incident aside. He promoted a film that denies the Holocaust. That's as bad as it gets.

Well, if the Nets were going to suspend him or waive him due to the latest psychodrama, they probably would've done so by now. So where does that leave us?

I'd say it's pretty close to 100% certain that the Nets will not give him another contract under any circumstances. So this is his last year as a Net (halle-freakin-lujah!).

I would also guess that Tsai and Marks would love to tell him to get lost right now, but they know this season is a lost cause, and they think there's a decent chance that they could get a decent asset for him because he's scoring pretty well right now, so they are going to keep him in the lineup for the time being in the hopes that they can at least get something out of this debacle.

I also think that they want to be careful about what they say publicly about Kyrie so they don't alienate other NBA players, many of whom like and/or respect Kyrie (and, unfortunately, some who agree with his "thoughts" about conspiracies, Jews, etc.).

Bottom line: I think the Nets are going to continue to lose quite a bit more than they win and are going to quietly shop Kyrie until they either unload him or the trade deadline passes with no deal.

I never bought into Durant and Irving being a championship core. I did for a minute think ok, they are contenders when Harden came, but then you had Irving's refusal to get vaccinated, injuries, etc. Brooklyn Nets are fools, they should have traded the two for a ton of picks and rebuilt, like Utah.

So Bill Simmons and Zach Lowe, both of whom are highly credible and well-informed, have both said since yesterday that no one wants Kyrie. Simmons said on his podcast yesterday that the Nets have been shopping Kyrie around -- even before the latest drama -- and no one is interested -- and Lowe said today on his podcast that Kyrie is radioactive and no one will take him.

The Nets are going to end up paying him to stay away after the trade deadline.

When you make a deal with the devil, the devil always gets his due.

Better late than never.

For once I'm actually not on board with this suspension...

He's definitely unfit... hope he learns but we know he aint..ain't...

The organization needed to do this

There goes the season, I think at least waive him if you deem him unfit and try and seek compensation from the league to at least sign or get another player to help the roster.

why did i not even blink when “breaking news” flashed that he was suspended?

I've said this before, if KD was friends with literally any other 2nd star player, none of this happens, and you guys would be showering KD with praise.

The KD/Kyrie was worth a try, but Kyrie basically started sabotaging it from the very start when he refused to get vaccinated.

The mere fact KD chose Kyrie as his 2nd star is what's lead to his downfall in his late career.

The Nets and KD are now in a stalemate.

It is what it is, out of KD, Ben Simmons, James Harden and Kyrie, KD is the best of that bunch and KD is very much a snake. Which tells you the character of Harden and the mental head cases that are both Kyrie and Simmons.

I wouldn't be surprised if he retires after this

He clearly doesn't give a damn about basketball