Sixers: 3 reasons not to trade for Kyrie Irving

Why the Sixers should not trade for Kyrie Irving: Off-court issues

Kyrie’s selfishness goes beyond his unavailability for his team; he has been this way for a number of years. Let’s go back to the 2020 playoffs when the NBA was doing everything they could to move forward with any plan to finish the season amid COVID-19. On top of the new pandemic, there was a strong social justice call to action by American citizens, but specifically NBA players who wanted league support to causes important to them.

The NBA and NBAPA (Player’s Association) agreed on proceeding with the NBA playoffs in a bubble at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. As a part of this agreement, the league agreed to give players a platform to speak out more on social injustice and provide monetary support and advertising support throughout the bubble playoffs. This agreement was approved by both parties and signed off by Chris Paul, President of the NBAPA. Kyrie is, and was at the time, a Vice President of the NBAPA, and went on a solo crusade encouraging players not to play basketball.

I am not saying Kyrie’s reason for encouraging players to opt out of the bubble were wrong. What is wrong though, is the fact that he was making public statements without talking to the NBAPA or Chris Paul and directly opposing the agreement. It is also worth noting that Kyrie wasn’t even going to the bubble anyway so he didn’t have to make the difficult decision he was encouraging others to make.

Another prime example of poor off-court behavior was last season when he was seen partying with his sister for her birthday, maskless at a club. He was supposedly taking personal time but had not given any details to his teammates or the Nets organization about what he was going through or when he planned to return to basketball.

Players nowadays are more than in their right to take time off for mental health issues or personal family issues, but you would think the least he could do is maintain consistent contact with the Nets, his employer. Imagine you doing what he did at your job, just not showing up or telling your boss why not.

This created the scenario that when Kyrie was seen out at the club, after not providing any information on his hiatus, he naturally was not going to receive the benefit of the doubt. In addition, the court of public opinion was going to crush him for it appearing like he took an unsolicited vacation from his job to party.