Kyrie May Want To Stay In Brooklyn After All

New reports suggest Kyrie Irving never asked for a trade, and if true, it's realistic for the Nets to hang on to both Kyrie and Kevin Durant. Nets reporter Kristian Winfield says Kyrie never wanted to leave and the only snag between Irving and the front office was their contact negotiations that ultimately led to Irving opting-in to his one-year, $36.5 million player option.

This can be true yet KD demanded a trade out of Brooklyn just hours after Irving's decision? None of this adds up because KD has reportedly said he wants to continue playing alongside Kyrie, whether that's in Brooklyn or not.

It's entirely possible for Kyrie to receive permission from the Nets to seek a sign-and-trade if the team wasn't interested in signing him long term while simultaneously wanting to stay. Kyrie has't been reliable with the whole vaccine debacle amongst other things that've caused him to miss games and that's why the Nets remain hesitant. Who could blame the team for not wanting to invest into a player that hasn't shown up, and we can say the same for really good players always wanting the largest contracts possible.

Recent reports have also said Kyrie is "only interested in a long term deal with the Lakers," that tells us it's a battle of the sources. We obviously have no clue who's accurate, but one thing we can confirm is that the Nets don't have to deal Kyrie or KD no matter how either of them feel. Not ideal throwing two unhappy stars on the floor at once in New York, of all markets, and expecting anything good to happen -- the demand of a trade just has't been made clear from Kyrie's camp. It's been a storm of subtweets, liked tweets and no-name reporters looking to go viral.

We can all agree the NBA is oversaturated with player movement. It'd be a nice change of pace if both Irving and Durant could figure this thing out and bring some normalcy to the modern game.