If I Were the Owner of the Brooklyn Nets I'd...

The new NBA season has been underway for more than a few weeks now, and as we all know, Kyrie Irving still hasn't played a single game since the season started due to the vaccine mandate in New York. The Nets decided to keep Kyrie sidelined until he can compete fully and not just during games that aren't at home. 

The Nets seem to be playing okay at the moment, but a lot of people feel the Nets would be a complete team if Kyrie wasn't riding the pine which is understandable because he is a great player and anytime one of the great players on a team isn't playing people always question the performance of the team in their absence. Even if the team is playing well and winning games, people will always question the close games a team won or lost based on the presence of their star athletes. 

With all that being said, word from the grapevine is the Kyrie will only play if he gets traded, and I can see why he'd want that. He's refusing to get vaccinated and there are other teams in the country that play in areas that don't have the vaccine mandate, so if the rumors are true and he wants a trade, it makes sense for him, but if I were the Nets, I'd make him live up to his contract or retire. 

The reason I would force Kyrie to honor his contract or retire has nothing to do with being vaccinated versus being unvaccinated, instead, it has to do with honoring your obligations. NBA players aren't like traditional workers. They sign fixed contracts based on certain parameters that both the organization and the player agree to. When Kyrie signed on the dotted line, he agreed that come hell or high water he'd be on the court playing basketball, until that is, the vaccine mandate. Now that it's high water time, he wants out of his contract to go play somewhere else, and if I were the Nets, I wouldn't do it. 

It's not about being petty either, it's about sending a message that once you sign a contract it's your job to maintain your end of the contract. Imagine if the Brooklyn Nets had decided since there was a vaccine mandate they were going to cancel the whole teams schedule. Withdraw from the whole season, do you think the player's union would allow such a thing? Probably not, right? They'd fight that tooth and nail because they want those game checks. 

Another reason I'd make him live up to obligation or retire is because it was Kyrie who wanted to bring in Kevin Durant and James Harden. I get it, who cares because they are great players who can take the team to the playoffs. Well, to that point I say that I felt the same way when Lebron did it in Cleveland. During his last season with the Cavs, I believe Lebron and his management team fought hard to get Tristan Thompson a big contract extension just for James to end up leaving the team the following season. Essentially what I'm getting at is that Kyrie bent the ear of the front office to make moves and they did it and now he wants out because things aren't the way he wants them to be. 

To me that's just terrible business. The Nets' front office have invested a lot in Kyrie for him to renege on his end of the bargain. The final reason I'd make him play or retire is because that's what he needs to do because even if he goes to another team, he's still going to be Kyrie and as long as certain states have vaccine mandates he's not going to be able to play. Imagine he gets traded to a team, the team makes the playoffs and their matchup is against a team that plays in a vaccine mandated area. 

The way the playoffs are, he would likely miss half of the playoff games which could in turn cause his team to lose their shot at a title simply because he refuses to get the vaccine. That being the case, who would trade for that? Kyrie missed games last year because he wanted to protest social injustice or whatever, and he hasn't played a single game this season. Who would trade for a problem child? It's almost the same issue with the 76ers and Ben Simmons. Simmons is refusing to play because he wants a trade, and if I'm a betting man, the 76ers are willing to move him but they aren't interested in any of the offers for him because the return wouldn't equal the potential or talent of Ben Simmons. 

At the end of the day, if I owned the Nets' I'd have a talk with Kyrie and tell him he either plays, or he retires and I would fine him for every game he misses. I get it; it's his body and his choice, but when you sign a contract, you don't get to choose when you will or when you won't uphold your end especially if there is no breach of contract on the side of ownership and they are paying you millions of dollars.