Because the Brooklyn Nets got swept by the Boston Celtics in the first round of the playoffs, Kyrie Irving’s had some extra time on his hands. He’s spent that time streaming live on Twitch and interacting with fans, and while doing so, he took a shot at the New York Knicks.
The Nets have been in Brooklyn for a decade now, having been in New Jersey before that. The Knicks have been in New York City for over seven decades and because of that, the consensus is that the Knicks run New York, not the Nets.
Irving doesn’t agree and that shouldn’t be a surprise, considering that he’s spent the past three seasons in Brooklyn. Many thought that he and Kevin Durant would’ve won the Nets their first-ever NBA title by now (or would be well on the way to doing so), but that hasn’t happened.
We all know what the result would be if a portion of New Yorkers were polled on their favorite team. The result would overwhelmingly sway in favor of the Knicks.
Nets point guard Kyrie Irving disagrees that the New York Knicks run the city.
Remember what the scene looked like outside of Madison Square Garden in 2021 when New York ended its playoff drought?
Kendrick Perkins might have a lot of wild takes on ESPN, but he was right about something. There isn’t anything better than watching the Knicks in the playoffs at Madison Square Garden.
Meanwhile over in Brooklyn this past year, the preseason title favorites struggled to make it to the play-in tournament. Irving’s refusal to get vaccinated played a large part in the Nets’ regular season and postseason issues. His absence, along with the James Harden trade, was too much for Brooklyn to bear.
All of the Nets’ five fans were left sorely disappointed. Seriously, that joke has been run into the ground a bit but the Knicks don’t need help filling seats for playoff games.
As for Irving, the belief seems to be that he’s going to decline his $36.5 million player option so that he can sign an extension with Brooklyn. Until he does that, there’s going to be speculation that the point guard could be signing with a new team as a free agent, although that wouldn’t be the wise thing to do.
The start of 2022-23 will be yet another opportunity for the Nets and Irving to prove that “they run New York.” But really, here’s to hoping that the Knicks are back in the playoffs because that atmosphere is electric and isn’t something that you can experience over at Barclays Center.
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