While Brooklyn general manager Sean Marks was speaking publicly for the first time since the Nets were swept out of the Eastern Conference playoffs in the first round by the Boston Celtics, star guard Kyrie Irving was ranting publicly while streaming himself playing Grand Theft Auto V on Twitch.
Irving, who went off for 39 points in Game 1 against the Celtics but only scored 46 points combined during the final three games of the series, took on some strange topics while streaming himself playing video games including his critics, racism and drug use. Also? OnlyFans.
“Yo, if you have an OnlyFans account, I have no comment. None. None whatsoever,” Irving said before continuing to comment. “I have no problem with OnlyFans, none. None. You won’t get my debit card though, I’ll tell you that. You won’t even get a free subscription from me, I’m sorry. I have no problem with it, don’t get me wrong. That’s not for me. It may be for you. You know what I mean? Keep the tissue papers off your goddamn nightstand.”
At that point, the 30-year-old cut off the stream.
While it is somewhat par for the course with Irving, the strange commentary may have had something to do with what Marks had to say while addressing the media about the future of the Nets following a season that fell well short of expectations.
Marks did not name names, but he certainly seemed to be alluding to Irving, who is not vaccinated against COVID-19 and played just 29 games after missing most of the year because of New York City’s vaccination mandate for employees within the city, in saying that Brooklyn wanted to move forward with “selfless” players.
“We need people here that want to be here,” Marks said Wednesday. “They’re selfless, that want to be part of something bigger than themselves — and there’s an objective and there’s a goal at stake here. And in order to do that, we’re going to need availability from everybody.”
When asked specifically about Irving, who did average 27.4 points per game when he was able to take the court, Marks was noncommittal about his future with the franchise.
“Look, I think that’s something we’ve been discussing and we will continue to debrief on and discuss throughout this offseason,” Marks said. “It’s honestly not just Kyrie; you bring Kyrie up, but we have decisions to make on a variety of different free agents throughout our roster. We haven’t had any of those discussions yet, so it would be unfair for me to comment on how it looks with us and Kyrie because, to be quite frank, he has some decisions to make on his own.”
Following Brooklyn being swept by the Celtics, it sounded as if Irving had made his decisions as he said he intended to re-sign with the Nets to “manage the franchise” with Kevin Durant alongside team owner Joe Tsai and Marks. Whether Marks, and more importantly Durant, is inclined to give Irving (who is eligible for a new deal for four years and $184 million or for five years and $248 million) a new contract remains to be seen. At 29 games per season, those numbers don’t add up.
More Like This
Whether you’re looking to get into shape, or just get out of a funk, The Charge has got you covered. Sign up for our new wellness newsletter today.
