Brooklyn Nets’ Kyrie Irving will be highly disappointed with his anti-climactic end to the 2020-21 NBA season. The Nets, boasting the likes of Kevin Durant, James Harden and Blake Griffin apart from Irving, were the favorites to win the championship this season.
However, injuries to both Harden and Irving meant that the Milwaukee Bucks were able to fight back from 0-2 to win the series 4-3, and advance to the Eastern Conference finals.
Regardless, Kyrie Irving will now be focused on injury rehabilitation and will eventually turn his attention to the 2021-22 NBA season. The Nets were unfortunate not to make it past the Bucks, but are still expected to be one of the prime favorites for the championship next year.
In this article, we look at Kyrie Irving’s overall contract situation, and when he is scheduled to become a free agent.
Kyrie Irving set to become a free agent at the end of the 2022-23 NBA season
Earlier in 2019, Kyrie Irving declined a player-option with the Boston Celtics to enter free agency. Irving missed a number of games towards the end of the 2018-19 NBA season and did not feature in the Celtics’ run to the Eastern Conference finals, where they eventually lost to Irving’s previous team, the Cleveland Cavaliers.
After entering free agency at the end of the season, he signed a 4-year, $164 million contract that will run through till the end of the coming NBA season. Irving’s salary for the 2020-21 season was around $35 million along with incentive clauses, and is set to increase to around $36.5 million in the coming season.
This was Kyrie Irving’s first contract with $30 million+ yearly salary, as he earlier signed an $80 million four-year contract with the Cavaliers at the start of the 2015-16 season. However, he famously asked to be traded before the 2017-18 NBA season in order to become the “focal point” of the team.
Regardless, Kyrie Irving is set to become a free agent at the end of the 2022-23 NBA season, and is expected to return to the Nets for next season. He will be 31 at the end of the contract, but will be looking to help his side to a championship before then.
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