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How Kyrie Irving’s Career Earnings Have Taken a $16 Million Hit Over 12 Years

Samir Mehdi
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How Kyrie Irving's Career Earnings Have Taken a $16 Million Hit Over 12 Years

Kyrie Irving is one of the NBA’s most controversial stars and for reasons that are quite unique to him alone. Guys like Dennis Rodman and Wilt Chamberlain were looked at as controversial figures due to common reasons such as being mean to fans, partying, or having their s*xual relations being made public. 

Irving however, has gotten flack for continually being on the wrong side of history. Last season saw him miss a plethora of games for the Brooklyn Nets due to him not wanting to get the Covid-19 vaccine. This inadvertently led to James Harden demanding a trade away from the team. 

This season, he’s once again slated to miss a slew of games due to his recent controversy revolving around a post he shared. The post was for a movie that contained Antisemitic values within it and due to him not apologizing explicitly, he has been suspended for a minimum of 5 games 

Him being suspended also means that he’s had to forfeit a lot of game checks.

Also read: “Think Before You Throw Stuff Out There!”: Steve Kerr Addresses Kyrie Irving’s Comments That Led to Suspension

How much has Kyrie Irving lost over the course of his 12 year career? 

Kyrie Irving has lost a total of $16,894, 030 in his 12-year career in the NBA. This encompasses everything from $2,000 fines he had to pay for being called for a technical foul to him relinquishing game checks worth over $300,000 for missing games due to being unvaccinated. 

During the 2020-21 NBA season, each game he missed resulted in him losing $408,455. The 2021-22 season saw him lose $381,181 per game missed due to his unvaccinated status. 

He would also famously lose $50,000 for using profane gestures against the Boston crowd during the Nets-Celtics series from last season. 

Of course, most recently, he’s had to forfeit game checks for a minimum of 5 games after the Antisemitism debacle. This adds up to a total of $1.258 million lost. 

Will Kyrie Irving be a Brooklyn Net by the end of this season? 

It’s incredibly difficult to dispute just how much talent Kyrie Irving has. However, with the amount of baggage that he comes with, he tends to become incredibly unreliable for the team he’s on. Stephen A Smith has even said on air that Joe Tsai is ‘completely done’ with Irving, according to him sources. 

While waiving him would be quite the drastic measure, trading him certainly isn’t at this point. Though, with everything that has transpired, what kind of trade value does the All-NBA talent have?

Also read: “Unjustly Labeled Anti-Semitic”: Kyrie Irving Issues Apology on Instagram Just Hours After Nets Suspend Him Without Pay

About the author

Samir Mehdi

Samir Mehdi

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Samir Mehdi is a senior strategist for the NBA division at The Sportsrush. Ever since he was 13 years old, he’s been obsessed with the game of basketball. From watching Kobe Bryant’s highlights on YouTube to now, analyzing and breaking down every single game on League Pass, Samir’s passion for the game is unwavering. He's a complete basketball junkie who not only breaks down current games but also keenly watches ones from the 60s’ and 70s’ while also reading comprehensive books on the history of the league. Samir’s life revolves around basketball and he hopes that shows in his work. Aside from work, he loves to spend time in the gym and with his friends at social gatherings.

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