Kyrie Irving's absence from Nets 'was difficult for us to manage,' ex-assistant coach says

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Former Brooklyn Nets coach Amar’e Stoudemire had some parting shots for Kyrie Irving while revealing he was no longer on Steve Nash’s coaching staff.

Stoudemire appeared on ESPN’s "First Take" Thursday and detailed just how much Irving’s absence hurt the Nets. Irving refused to get a coronavirus vaccination and was ruled out by the organization at the start of the season. He returned to play away games before New York City dropped its mandate.

"I think it hurt us. It definitely hurt us because we didn’t have consistency enough with Kyrie to build chemistry with the group, with the team," Stoudemire said, via Nets Daily. "He’s playing only away games depending which city it is ... can’t play in New York ... therefore we had different lineups, different matchups depending on the game schedule. So it made it difficult for us coaches to figure out who’s going to play in spite of Kyrie. So it was difficult for us to manage that. So yeah, it was part of that."

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Brooklyn Nets player development assistant Amar'e Stoudemire during a game against the Sacramento Kings at Barclays Center Feb. 14, 2022, in New York City. (Steven Ryan/Getty Images)

Stoudemire also appeared on ESPN’s "Get Up" and called for Nets general manager Sean Marks to get some assurances from Irving going into the 2022-23 season should the guard decide to pick up his $36.5 million player option.

He said a meeting between Marks and the two superstars on the team – Irving and Kevin Durant – must happen.

"But I do think with Kevin and Ky, he’ll have a real sit-down. Because Ky, since he came to the Nets, has missed more games than he