The betting last summer was that Kyrie Irving — like Kevin Durant — had played his last game with the Nets. The two sides’ inability to find agreeable terms on an extension — followed within days by Durant’s trade request — seemed to signal that the New Jersey Nets fan and seven-time All-Star was headed for the door. Then, Irving and his agent and stepmother Shetellia Riley Irving forged a separate peace with the Nets that led to his and ultimately KD’s return.
This season, after he was embroiled in an anti-semitic controversy and suspended eight games, a new round of betting had him once again exiting stage left, via a trade if one could even be arranged.