By: Debadrita Ghosh Image credit: NBA and Twitter
As per CBS Sports' Bill Reiter, Kyrie Irving, the Brooklyn Nets All-Star guard, asked the franchise to move him. Irving has informed the Nets that he wants to be traded before February 9, otherwise he will become a free agent in July.
According to some reports, Kyrie Irving and the Nets were unable to reach an agreement on a contract extension, which led to this transfer demand.
As per The Athletic, Brooklyn reportedly made an extension offer to Irving lately with guarantee terms, which was not well received by Irving's camp and was ultimately rejected.
This problem began during the previous offseason, when Irving refused to sign a contract extension with the Nets and instead chose to sign on for his contract's final year.
The Nets allegedly gave Irving clearance to look for sign-and-trade opportunities with other teams, but nothing materialized. Irving ultimately decided to extend his contract for one more year in order to compete for a championship with Kevin Durant.
However, Irving's request for a trade has complicated Nets' preparations for this year, and now that the star guard has issued an ultimatum, the Nets may not have as much negotiating power to get back value for Kyrie.
Irving hasn't said which teams he would prefer to be transferred to, but Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN reports that he still has interest in playing for the Los Angeles Lakers.
According to Marc Stein, the Nets are expected to hold talks with the Lakers and Dallas Mavericks.
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