Earlier today, it was revealed that Kyrie Irving and the Brooklyn Nets had hit a series “impasse” in their contract talks. This is a situation that many were anticipating as Kyrie wants to have some long-term stability, all while the Nets would rather go with a short deal. After all, Kyrie has proven to be pretty unreliable, and it is easy to see why the Nets would feel like this type of deal is necessary at the moment.
This news broke in the middle of First Take this morning, and as you can imagine, the crew spoke about it. Stephen A. Smith has been critical of Kyrie over the last few years, and it was expected that he would have a lot to say about this particular situation.
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As you can see down below, Smith called Irving “delusional” for his contract demands. Smith spoke at length about how Kyrie is constantly missing games and that as it stands, the Nets would be out of their minds to give him anything more than a year or two.
“This is a guy who missed 127 games over the last three seasons and he thinks he deserves a four-year extension on top of the $36 million he’s expected to make this upcoming season,” Smith began. “I mean what nerve. What gall?”
As per usual, Smith acknowledged that Kyrie is a great player who is amazing whenever he stepped on the court. For now, however, Kyrie has yet to prove himself as someone who consistently shows up to work.