The Brooklyn Nets added veteran forward Andrei Kirilenko during the week in what appears to be the last major piece they will need in order to compete for an NBA title, but the move hasn't come without its fair share of scrutiny from basketball fans and owners alike.
According to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports, NBA owners and their front office personnel are apparently suspicious about the deal that saw Kirilenko take the mini mid-level exception--around $3 million per season--which was far less than his market value.
Even before this suspicion came to light, fans around the globe--myself included--were already highly critical of the potential means by which this deal was reached. After all, Kirilenko was set to make $10 million with his player option from the Minnesota Timberwolves, but he declined that option to take $7 million less with the Nets.
Per the same report from Wojnarowski, Kirilenko was looking for a three-year deal worth about $24 million before inking a contract with Brooklyn, so that further fuels the fire that Kirilenko and the Nets may be up to no good.
What is the no good, you ask? Well it's pretty simple really.
Doubters are saying that Nets owner and Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov is paying Kirilenko under the table in some fashion in order to make up for the money lost by his signing with the Nets. Since both are from the same country, it's possible that Kirilenko and Prokhorov have some kind of deal in place that will pay him in Russia or maybe elsewhere, but we can't say for sure at this point.
Of course, a move like that would be highly unethical in basketball circles and would warrant punishment from the league should an investigation discover this was going on.
The NBA has yet to respond to such allegations by fans and owners, but if this pressure persists, look for the league to take some kind of action in the form of a probe to make sure the Nets owner isn't breaking any rules.
There is a chance that this is all over nothing and could be blown out of proportion, but the accusations certainly make sense. Few players in their right mind would take the kind of pay cut Kirilenko is taking and that's why this stinks.
Going from $8 to $10 million per year to just over $3 million a year willingly is just unheard of. The only players on this planet who do things like that are aging stars who are desperate to win a championship and in turn take less money to join a championship-caliber, cash-strapped squad.
While Kirilenko is joining a definite contender who is cash-strapped next season, he is only 32 years old and isn't in any way, shape or form at the age when players become more desperate to win a title. The Russian forward still has plenty of time to get that done and the normal course of events would have Kirilenko taking a pay cut in his mid to late 30's instead.
Not to mention, he was just asking for significantly more money than the Nets were able to offer and all of a sudden he changes his mind? It just doesn't make sense and there's no doubt the NBA needs to look into the matter just to make sure everything is gravy.
At the end of the day, this all may just be sour grapes by people around the league because the Nets are set up to be a powerhouse in 2013-14 and just added another impact player like Kirilenko. But the suspicion certainly makes sense in every regard and the tyrannical David Stern and company must look into it to save the dignity of the league and its salary cap restrictions.
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