Beard’s frustration with part-time Kyrie could impact future
Could James Harden’s
Brooklyn honeymoon be ending?
Despite the Nets presenting a unified front of public support for Kyrie Irving, organizational sources said Harden is irritated by his teammate’s part-time status. Now Bleacher Report not only confirmed Harden’s “frustration” with Irving, but suggests he could wind up elsewhere this summer due to being “disappointed” by Steve Nash’s rotations and “not enjoying” life in the city.
In the wake of yet another home loss, Harden admitted his frustration with the Nets’ short-handed status and struggles to make headway, but not with any rotations, weather or anything else in Brooklyn.
“Talking about reports. I don’t know about any reports. Did you guys hear it from me?” Harden asked rhetorically. When pressed on the specifics — cold, high taxes, inconsistent rotations — Harden said, “I don’t know about any reports. Of course I’m frustrated, because we’re not healthy, there’s a lot of inconsistencies for whatever reason: injuries, COVID, whatever you want to call it. But yeah, it’s frustrating.
“I think everyone in this organization is frustrated, because we’re better than what our record is and we should be on the way up. That’s all it is. I don’t know anything about any reports. If you didn’t hear it from me. … I don’t talk to nobody. I have an agent. If you don’t hear it from me, then it’s ‘reports.’ So I’m frustrated because I want to win and I’m a competitor. It’s pretty simple.”
DeAndre’ Bembry insists their teammates are OK with Irving’s situation, barred from playing at home due to his refusal to adhere to New York’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
And Nash said Harden hadn’t broached any concerns over the Nets’ everchanging lineups, and lack of a set crunch-time quintet.
“No, I just heard about these reports and I haven’t spoken to him about any of these things. I’m not sure what to believe,” Nash said. “James and I speak all the time. We have a great relationship, so I’m not sure the validity of these comments to be honest with you.
“We talk, and the rotations or whatever, it seems very strange seeing as though we have different guys available pretty much every other night. I don’t see James saying a lot of this stuff, and I feel like our relationship’s been really good and we’ve worked through a lot of things together this year.”
After the Nets failed to lock Harden up to a longterm extension by the Oct. 18 deadline, he talked about the allure of testing out free agency. And Philadelphia hovers as a threat for a summer sign-and-trade, considering Harden’s pre-existing relationship with 76ers president Daryl Morey.
Harden — still all-in on trying to win a title this season with the Nets, then testing free agency — was lured to Brooklyn by Irving and Kevin Durant. But when he rejected an extension rumors started circulating; and Irving’s situation has compounded them.
When asked if he’d spoken to Irving early in his hiatus, a vexed Harden snapped, “No, I haven’t talked to him.” And even since Irving’s part-time return, Harden has repeatedly spoken of how the Nets need him full-time.
“We need him every single game … especially with everything that’s going on with our team,” Harden said Friday, alluding to the injury to Durant. When asked on Oct. 12 if he had hope of Irving playing at home, Harden replied, “Man, I’m going to give him the shot.”
Harden has a $47 million player option, and had until Oct. 18 to add another three years for $161.1 million that’d kick in for 2023-24. But he had an incentive to wait, able to re-sign with the Nets next summer for a record $270 million windfall.