Credit: David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports
The Brooklyn Nets' season collapsing in the first round after the Boston Celtics swept them was incredibly shocking considering the narrative prior to the season that assumed the Nets would be the favorites to win the 2022 NBA Championship. They have fallen well short of that prediction and are the only team to be swept this post-season.
The positive momentum from the start of the season disappeared when it was revealed that Kyrie Irving would be unable to play home games due to his stance on vaccination from COVID. Kyrie became media headline #1 and not for basketball reasons after that.
Now that their season has ended in abject failure, Irving finally opened up on the media circus around him and his team through the months the New York State didn't allow him to play home games.
Irving's situation was a plain distraction for the team and there is very little that can be said against that. The vaccine drama is what ultimately sent James Harden away for a player in Ben Simmons who still hasn't played for Brooklyn. Considering all of Kyrie's teammates were having to answer questions about him, it could not have been easy for the locker room.
Irving is a free agent this season and is expected to re-sign. However, he will still have a lot of media attention for everything he has done in the last few seasons. At this point, being a teammate of Kyrie Irving automatically means there is a massive spotlight on you as well.
The distractions should be lesser next season as the expectations will be lower. Hopefully, the Nets manage to at least show enough competitive spirit to win a game in the playoffs next season. This year is already a disaster, as the Nets championship window becomes slimmer and slimmer with each year gone.
The rest is here:
Kyrie Irving Admits That Vaccine Drama Affected Brooklyn Nets' Chemistry: "It Became A Distraction" - Fadeaway World
Recommendation and review posted by G. Smith
