"Egregious", "Disgusting", "Grotesque": Brooklyn Nets BLASTED on ESPN For Kyrie Return

 

As NBA players test positive for COVID and enter health & safety protocols at an alarming rate (the count is well over 100), the Brooklyn Nets decided to make this the time to go back on their principles and allow an unvaccinated Kyrie Irving to rejoin them for road games. And they are being ripped for the move by NBA insiders.

Stephen A. Smith and NBA player-turned-broadcaster Tim Legler went on ESPN on Tuesday to absolutely blast Brooklyn for the move, calling it, among other things, "egregious", "disgusting" and "grotesque." 

It began with Stephen A.: "To watch the Brooklyn Nets reverse course on this... is egregious and disgusting, to be quite honest with you. But what makes it even (worse), is that they did it for him. Because he's the last person in the world who deserves it... As somebody who is trustworthy? Hell no!"

Legler was able to come at it from a player's perspective, from potential teammates' perspectives: 

"To think that you could allow a guy to just show up, play on the road, not practice with you, not play in home games, not be a part of everything that goes into the blood and sweat and the emotional investment that has to go into winning.... to me, from the beginning, was insane."  

Legler applauded the Nets for stepping up and blocking Kyrie from doing that at the beginning of the season. But... "To reverse course on that (now), and compromise everything that team sports are about, in terms of everybody pulling in the same direction, to me, it's really grotesque." 

Whether it was pressure from his bff Kevin Durant, who's been piling up the minutes, or just a desperation move to try to keep their position atop the Eastern Conference in the midst of a roster catastrophe, there are some serious questions being asked about the integrity and the principles of the Brooklyn Nets. 

Photo Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports