Andrei “AK-47” Kirilenko Is Done With The Brooklyn Nets

Quite frankly, I saw the departure of Andrei Kirilenko from Brooklyn happening at the NBA trade deadline, but not 12 games into the season.

In the past, Kirilenko has had a history of back problems and would always say that he couldn’t play because his back wouldn’t allow him to. He entered this seasons training camp with the same back troubles. Time passed and he seemed to be fine, especially when he played in China during the pre-season, against the Sacramento Kings. When he only played a few minutes in the season home opener and soon wasn’t playing at all, red flags immediately went up.

Over the course of the next few games, you could see the frustration in his face as the cameras panned across the Nets bench. Kirilenko didn’t have a single button undone from his warm up attire as if he knew he was never entering the game, no matter what the score was. The look of frustration soon turned into look of “let me go so I can play somewhere else.” Shortly thereafter, media questions about Kirilenko got louder and a silent Kirilenko spoke up. He said his back was fine and he was healthy but he’s out of Coach Hollins rotation. That couldn’t be a positive sign for a defensive presence like Kirilenko who had come off the bench and contributed countless times in his previous season with Brooklyn.

As you look into the future of the Nets organization, Kirilenko only had this season remaining on his contract. In any direction he looked, there were no indications of him being a Brooklyn Net next season or any other time in the future. He’s not playing but wants to, he can contribute but can’t, and he took less money to be with the Nets than his market commanded. He’s owed $3.2 million this season.
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Kirilenko decided not to go on the road trip with his team to Oklahoma City to play the Thunder, where they scored a much needed win (94-92) and now as they face the San Antonio Spurs tonight. Kirilenko had said that he didn’t go on the trip because of personal reasons. Do we buy that?

Kirilenko wants out now and the Nets seem to be in the motion of granting him his wish. In fact, the Nets are not only looking to shop Kirilenko but Sergey Karasev as well because Karasev has also fallen out of the coach’s rotation. My personal belief is that the Nets are chipping away at the salary to remove themselves from luxury tax burdens and to be in a position to acquire the services of Kevin Durant in 2 years. If this is true, they had to start somewhere and Kirilenko was that start.