Are they a championship team?

In either scenario or both, for sure, with without gets dicey, just because of all the depth they gave up to get James Harden and to some degree, and James Harden is insurance against the without scenario.

You have two stars minimum either way, if everybody is healthy, but they've given up so much depth that the two star model for them part of the point of being a big too instead of a Big Three is that you often have much better death.

You go 10 11, 12 deep in quality N B A players, which is what the Nets were.

They can't do that now without Kyrie, so that one is questionable to me.

But we can all make jokes about how are they going to share one ball?

This.

That and the other thing.

If if those three guys are healthy, this team is absolutely a championship contender and may be the favorite in these and without Kyrie without Kyrie, I think they still have a shot to make the finals.

I mean, James and Katie are that good and they have a decent like they can make an eight man rotation.

They'll get a buyout guy, they'll get another center.

They could absolutely still win the East, but it's more of like they maybe need a little luck.

It's a dogfight with Milwaukee.

If Miami rises back up, that could be a problem.

But they're just sort of mawr just in the mix with everybody else.

Zach Lowe is with me here on ESPN radio, and I guess that you have to ask the question that no one seems to know the answer to What is your sense of how this thing with Kyrie is going to play out?

Hey, man, if I knew that, I'd be writing it right now on ESPN dot com.

I'm not even sure that Nets know that.

I'm not sure anybody outside Cairo's orbit knows that.

I mean, this is fast becoming one of the strangest things.

Um, I can recall.

Look, we all go through periods where we need to step away for a little while.

For whatever reason, I don't think that that's shameful or abnormal.

Violating the Kobane protocols is not an awesome look, but The longer this goes, the weirder it gets and a some point you you do have an obligation.

You're being paid 30 plus million dollars to play N B.

A.

Basketball.

You signed a contract.

At some point.

You do have an obligation to your teammates, to the organization toe to show up and play.

And and do you have any sense then of where the patients level is with Brooklyn?

Is, Is this something that could go on indefinitely?

What is your sense of how long they're willing to let it sit?

Before there was some drastic action?

Well, I think you know Sean Marks.

Releasing that statement yesterday was Step one in.

I don't want to say putting pressure on Kyrie, but sort of letting him in the world.

No.

Hey, we're watching this, and at some point we're going to need an explanation, and the public is going to be in an explanation.

Obviously, their their patients is not going to be indefinite.

I think the heart and trade sort of provides a little bit of a distraction for a little while.

They have an exciting new thing and exciting new toy to play with, but yeah, they're gonna want Kyrie back pretty soon.

I mean, it's already surprising.

You know, there were There was some hope that he would be back with the team for Tuesday's game.

That obviously didn't happen.

Now we'll just reporting is that could be back at all this week.

Maybe next week.

I mean, at some point, it's It's going to become an issue, Do you?

Well, I mean, you already said you don't, But I mean, do we even know why this is happening?

Because my feeling has been and I Well, I don't even go into my feeling.

Do you have any sense of why this is happening?

I don't I mean, I've seen reporting from our former colleague Iain Begg Lee, who who reported that Kyrie was upset over Jacob, the officers that killed Jacob Lake in Wisconsin, not being charged with anything.

Obviously there's been all sorts of madness around Washington, D c.

That could be it.

I mean, Kyrie has been very involved in in, uh, philanthropy and all of these issues of social justice, so that could be it.

You know, I I just I hesitate to even guess because, you know, I don't know Kyra's business, and there is a lot going on.

But I'm not sure anyone really knows the specific answer.

If the Nets.

No, there's certainly not saying that's right.

Yeah, the way they're acting suggests that they have an idea that this that there is a real problem here.

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