Initially, the idea of James Harden joining the Nets felt forced. Having a ton of talent is important, but players have to mesh — and the supporting cast is important, too. Things change, though. Spencer Dinwiddie’s injury put Brooklyn in a weird spot, and no matter how much Sean Marks or anyone else says Kyrie Irving is invested, there has been a change in tune on Brooklyn. Remember, their culture is ever-evolving, it’s not set in stone.
“I’m not going to shy away from it,” Brooklyn’s general manager said on a Zoom call with reporters Thursday when asked about Irving’s absence. “Without a doubt, the organization is disappointed with not having any one of our players — in this particular case, Kyrie — not amongst us — not in the trenches with us and so forth.”
Yes, Marks still said Irving is part of the family, but is that just a buzz word like “culture” apparently was?
“It’s been well documented that if there’s reasonable excuses for their absence, fine,” Marks said. “We have got support whether it’s our players or whether it’s our staff, and you would do that in any industry. You also would hope there’s a more than adequate excuse as to why he needs personal time. He will address that without a doubt.”
The Nets general manager also revealed he spoke with both Irving and Kevin Durant as he was going through the final steps of the Harden trade on Wednesday, providing reason to believe the Nets point guard is still on board.
Even if he’s not, at this point, the Nets will be fine. Irving isn’t the second-best player in Brooklyn anymore.
Durant and Harden should easily hold down the fort until his return. And if Irving, for some reason, decides he doesn’t want to come back, role players are going to step forward — Bruce Brown and Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot have shown that.
And remember, Durant said it himself in September:
“The best teams in the league usually got two guys.”
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