The Stipulation That Caused Kyrie Irving to Leave Nets Revealed

The Brooklyn Nets and superstar guard Kyrie Irving attempted to find common ground on a contract extension for several weeks. Instead, Irving felt "disrespected" and forced his way out of the borough. 

According to Ramona Shelburne and Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, the Nets discussed three-year extensions with stipulations packed with games played being one of them. Irving and his camp had their eyes set on a longer extension with no conditions or stipulations. 

"Nets were willing to discuss extensions for up to three seasons, but only if Irving would agree to some conditions that would protect the team if he didn't play enough games since he had missed more than 100 games since arriving in Brooklyn. Irving wanted a longer extension with no conditions." 

There is no secret Brooklyn was going to apply stipulations to a possible Irving extension when the two sides were in negotiations. The guard, who underwent a series of off-the-court controversies limiting his availability outside of injuries, played in only 143 games across his four-season tenure with the organization. 

After being dealt to the Dallas Mavericks, the guard was very outspoken about his time in Brooklyn. In his introductory press conference in Dallas on Tuesday, he stated he wants to be celebrated and not just tolerated. 

“I just know I want to be places where I’m celebrated and not just tolerated, or kind of dealt with in a way that doesn’t make me feel respected,” Irving said. “There were times throughout this process when I was in Brooklyn where I felt very disrespected.”

Brooklyn received guard Spencer Dinwiddie, veteran wing Dorian Finney-Smith, an unprotected 2029 first-round pick, and two second-round picks from Dallas in exchange for the disgruntled point guard.