According to SNY, D'Angelo Russell will likely be forced out contention if Kyrie Irving is added to the fold. The reason being: the Brooklyn Nets already have a plethora of ball-dominant guard in their backcourt, and platooning Kyrie and D'Angelo with an existing rotation that includes Spencer Dinwiddie and a healthy Caris LeVert could spell out incoherence on all fronts.
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Think of this way, adding Kyrie Irving to the roster isn't exactly devoid of risk, even if the numbers presumably add up personnel-wise. It's been rumored for some time now, that NBA GMs are wary of adding Kyrie if he isn't paired with another marquee signing/volume scorer.
As SNY's wisely Ian Begley pointed out, while the Nets are believed to be current frontrunners to land Irving's services, they would prefer to sign him in tandem with Kevin Durant. Yet, if that were to become their course of action, they'd have to clear a good chunk of cap space to make it work under the luxury tax. If Russell's contract is written off the books, the Nets would be left with over $66 million in cap space.
There's no indication KD prefers the Nets to the New York Knicks, despite the incessant rambling of lifelong Knicks fan Stephen A. Smith. If D'Angelo's restricted free agent status were to be rescinded, there would be no shortage of NBA teams interested in making his acquisition. The Indiana Pacers are rumored to be VERY interested; all it would take is a few dominos to fall into place before a team could feasibly "offer sheet" t the Nets' reservoir of talented youngsters.
