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Kyrie Irving Breaks Silence on Retirement Rumors
With the Brooklyn Nets recently announcing that Kyrie Irving would not be joining the team until he is eligible to be a full participant, many rumors about Irving's future began circulating the internet. Amongst these rumors was the idea that Kyrie Irving may retire.
It was reported by The Athletic's Shams Charania that in light of Kyrie's recent decision to remain unvaccinated, costing his eligibility in Brooklyn Nets home games, the organization is no longer planning on offering him a contract extension. In that same report from Shams, he indicated that Brooklyn is expected to listen to trade offers for their all-star guard.
The complication of such a trade, aside from Irving's vaccination status, is the looming possibility that Kyrie may retire if he is dealt from Brooklyn. It was recently reported by FS1's Nick Wright that there are several potential Kyrie trades that would make sense for the Nets, but Irving's agents have made it clear that Kyrie would retire if traded from Brooklyn. These rumors gained even more traction in recent days with the reports that Irving would not participate in any Nets games until fulfilling New York City's vaccine requirements.
In an Instagram live session on Wednesday evening, Kyrie addressed these retirement rumors when he said, "Don’t believe that I’m retiring. Don’t believe that I’m going to give up this game for a vaccine mandate." While it is unclear if Kyrie is indicating that he will ultimately get vaccinated or instead wait until mandates are lifted, it does not seem as if retirement is in his current plans.
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