Draymond Green Calls Nets Owner Petty Over Kyrie Irving Trade
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The NBA is a business and trading superstars is the hardest part of the job.
For the third time in 13 months, the Nets had to combat a superstar trade request. This time around, it was Kyrie Irving and he was traded in the span of two days of demanding to get out of the borough.
The superstar guard was traded to the Dallas Mavericks in exchange for Spencer Dinwiddie, Dorian Finney-Smith, and a total of three draft picks (one first-round pick, and two second-round picks).
Days after the trade became official, Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green disclosed that he heard the Nets wouldn't trade Irving to the Lakers. It was reported Los Angeles was the preferred destination to reunite with LeBron James.
The Warriors forward called Nets Governor, Joe Tsai 'petty' for not dealing Irving to the Lakers.
"I am told they [Nets] would not trade him to the Lakers, and that is what I call billionaire petty," Green said. "That is Joe Tsai's saying, 'hey listen man, that's where he wanna go? I don't care if they offered the best package deal or not. I can be petty too.' Billionaire petty is a different level of petty, and not many people can compete with billionaire petty."
During his introductory press conference, Irving thrashed the Nets organization for the majority of his availability. The guard cited the lack of "transparency and honesty from people in the front office" as a reason he did not feel comfortable remaining with the franchise.
"There were times throughout this process when I was in Brooklyn where I felt very disrespected and my talent," Irving told reporters on Tuesday evening. "I work extremely hard at what I do. No one ever talks about my work ethic, though. Everyone talks about what I'm doing off the floor, so I just wanted to change that narrative, write my own story and just continue preparing in the gym, and now that I'm in Dallas, just focus on what I control."
