Kyrie Irving may be on the move this upcoming NBA offseason, making him an intriguing sports card play

Patrick Stoddard

June 11, 2022

Kyrie Irving, Brooklyn Nets

All the smoke reportedly coming from the Brooklyn Nets front office is that they do not want to offer Irving a multi-year max contract. In non-covid times, Irving is certainly a max contract caliber player. But, Irving is unvaccinated and seemingly entrenched in his position to remain unvaccinated. His self-dug position may leave him unable to play in markets like New York, L.A., Tronto, and possibly others. With Irving's limited availability, the Nets seem unwilling to give him a long-term contract extension.

Irving has one more year on his current contract, albeit with a player option that he must opt into this offseason. The player option for the upcoming 2022-23 NBA season is worth $36 million; that number is large for someone to opt out and risk the open market. Again, in non-covid times, Irving could opt out and receive multiple long-term contract offers from NBA teams. But in our current times, where availability seems king in the NBA season, Irving is among the most unreliable players.

So, say Irving opts out of his player option for next year, and the Nets do not offer him a contract he deems worthy, and he decides to sign with another team. Or another likely possibility is the Nets outright trade him once he opts into his player option, or the Nets execute a sign and trade. Regardless of the scenario, Irving could not be a member of the Nets next season. So, where could Irving sign or be traded to?

Irving's options in free agency are very limited. No contending team has remotely close to the cap room that would be required to sign Irving. Leaving only teams rebuilding like the Detroit Pistons, Houston Rockets, Orlando Magic, and Oklahoma City Thunder to sign Irving outright in free agency. One, would Irving really want to sign with a rebuilding team and seemingly waste any prime years he has remaining left with a rebuilding team? I would be very skeptical of that option. Would a rebuilding team want to commit $30-40 million to an unreliable superstar like Irving? I would guess that the rebuilding teams would not want to hitch their rebuilds on someone as unreliable as Irving. So, Irving signing with a team in free agency seems unlikely at this point.

The trade scenario opens up almost the entire NBA to Irving. The more likely option is Irving; if he leaves the Nets, he will be traded to another team. The return for Irving could not be a haul of future draft picks but another superstar or a combination of high-end role players. The Nets obviously would not want to give up Irving for anything other than a significant return, and with Kevin Durant leading the Nets to a hopeful NBA championship.

If Irving ends up being traded, a team in the southern U.S. would most want him as the southern U.S. teams play less in the covid-mandated vaccinated cities. NBA teams in Texas, Florida, and other nearby states have been floated loosely as teams who would want Irving.

In all honesty, the most likely scenario is Irving stays with the Nets, and Irving and the front office work out either a short-term extension, or he plays out his player option as a prove-it deal.

Now to the sports card piece of the article.

Suppose Irving remains a Brooklyn Net next season. In that case, I believe he will be heavily motivated by money to play in as many games as he can with the Nets for him to earn himself a new deal (assuming he plays his upcoming player option out). Irving staying with the Nets present an interesting card market for him as Irving's cards were on a decline when he did not play due to him being unvaccinated. But, when Irving would play multiple games in an arena in a row, that did not require players to be vaccinated. Irving's card prices would tick upwards or at least not drop. If Irving stays on Brooklyn and plays close to an entire season, I believe his card prices will increase slightly in value or at least remain steady and not lose value.

The more exciting option for me is if Irving is on a new team when the 2022-23 NBA season begins. Irving on a new team will be the shiny new object for sports card collectors. If the Irving on a new team plays like the Irving of old, his card prices will most likely go up in value. As fans will be reminded of the fact, he is a surefire NBA Hall of Famer, multiple All-NBA, and NBA All-Star. Many fans also forget Irving has pop culture relevance with his movie Uncle Drew. Irving is also the face of black and player empowerment and has been for some time in the NBA, making him quite popular with some fans.

If Irving is on another team come the upcoming NBA season and plays like the Kyrie Irving of old, his card prices will see a healthy increase in value. Even if Irving stays a Brooklyn Net but performs well, his card prices should also go up in value from the downturn they are in now.

However, this is Kyrie Irving, one of the most unreliable players in the NBA. Even before covid, Irving could disappear during the NBA season for weeks at a time, missing several games for what would only be called personal reasons. Irving is a gamble. Some sports card collectors could consider taking this NBA offseason.

Overall, Irving is extremely risky in the short term and even for the remainder of his NBA career. But being a lock for the hall of fame makes Irving a suitable collection or investment for card collectors who will hold Irving cards for years to come. Irving fell out of sports card hobby love with his lack of games played last season. Once a player drops out of love with the hobby, it is tough for that player's cards to regain their past value and relevance. But one thing is certain, Irving is capable of making his sports cards relevant again.

Disclaimer: I'm a paying customer of Card Ladder. This content is for informational and/or entertainment purposes only. You should not construe any such information or other material as legal, investment, financial, or other advice.

 "Kyrie Irving" by ye-wa is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.