According to multiple reports, Kyrie Irving floated the idea of NBA players starting a new league during a group chat with his Brooklyn Nets teammates.
In a recent chat group with Nets players, Kyrie Irving lobbied for skipping the bubble, the Daily News has learned. In that chat, he also proposed that the players can start their own league, according to a source. https://t.co/SqC0wcccPJ
— Stefan Bondy (@SBondyNYDN) June 16, 2020
Kyrie telling other players they should start their own league is not new. He’s talked to teammates about it this season. Based on what I was told KD was not as enthusiastic.
Taped a new Pod on it this morning. Out soon.
— Russillo (@ryenarussillo) June 17, 2020
However, that alleged suggestion had nothing to do with the 28-year-old’s issues with the NBA’s plan to restart its season at the end of July in a “bubble” at Disney World in Orlando.
Sources tell me that Kyrie Irving never stated that the Nets should begin their own league in response to the bubble.
I'm told that after that report came out, he left the group chat.
— Taylor Rooks (@TaylorRooks) June 17, 2020
To be clear on this, Kyrie Irving has proposed to his teammates they should start their own league, and it’s not necessarily in response to the bubble situation. https://t.co/x6pM4Dipc3
— Stefan Bondy (@SBondyNYDN) June 17, 2020
Whatever the suggestion was or wasn’t made in response to, the Nets have to be feeling pretty good about signing the six-time All-Star point guard to a four-year contract worth $142 million last summer because he seems really, really committed to the team for the long haul.
A group led by Irving and Avery Bradley of the Los Angeles Lakers shared their concerns about the league restarting amidst a pandemic while the dust continues to settle following the murder of George Floyd in Minnesota by a police officer.
RELATED: Can Kyrie Irving’s Protest Change American Sports Forever?
In response to a statement from Irving and Bradley’s coalition that likened the restart plan to a system of “use and abuse,” NBA commissioner Adam Silver acknowledged the reboot of his sport “won’t be for everyone.”
In recognition of that, Silver said the league had reached an arrangement with the player’s association that allows for a player to skip the league’s restart without breaching his contract. However, players who do not play will forfeit 1/93rd of the money owed to them on their contracts for every game they miss unless they are granted a medical exemption.
Players have until June 24 to notify their teams that they’d prefer not to play in Orlando. Irving doesn’t have to because he isn’t going to play either way after undergoing shoulder surgery in March.
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