Nets likely to either trade or dump Andrei Kirilenko
NBA Sports andrei kirilenko brooklyn nets lionel hollins
Tim Bontemps
OKLAHOMA CITY — There is a chance Andrei Kirilenko has played his last game as a Net.
Though league sources indicated Kirilenko’s absence for personal...
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New York Post
OKLAHOMA CITY — There is a chance Andrei Kirilenko has played his last game as a Net.

Though league sources indicated Kirilenko’s absence for personal reasons both Friday against the Thunder and Saturday in San Antonio has nothing to do with his lack of recent playing time, the 33-year-old forward clearly has fallen out of Nets coach Lionel Hollins’ plans, and it appears the team soon could be ready to move on.

Sources said no buyout negotiations have taken place, but it’s possible the Nets still could try to trade Kirilenko and his $3.3 million expiring contract. An ESPN.com report said preliminary discussions had taken place with the 76ers, but any trade likely would take place after Dec. 15, when all rookies and players signed to contracts this summer become eligible to be traded.

The Nets would save somewhere around $13 million in payroll and luxury-tax commitments this season if they traded Kirilenko and took no salary back in the deal. If a trade doesn’t materialize, it seems inevitable a buyout would be reached at some point.

“It’s just life,” Hollins said before Friday night’s 94-92 victory over the Thunder. “I go with what’s out there and who is getting the job done. There’s times where certain other guys have fallen back and earned their trust back, but it’s basketball.”

Either way, it’s hard to see Kirilenko finding his way into a significant role with the Nets again. He has played in seven of their 12 games this season, but only for a combined 36 minutes, scoring three points and missing all five field goals he has attempted.

He was a healthy scratch for both Monday’s loss to the Heat and Wednesday’s triple-overtime loss to the Bucks. After Monday’s game, said he felt fine physically and had “no idea” what he had to do to get back into Hollins’ rotation.

“I know [Kirilenko leaving] would be a big loss for me,” said Sergey Karasev, the young Russian guard Kirilenko was expected to help mentor this season, “but I just am going to keep doing what I do in the practices, and do everything the same.”

Kirilenko signed with the Nets in July 2013 with great fanfare after they landed him on a two-year deal worth $6.5 million, including a player option for the second season. He had turned down a $10 million option with the Timberwolves and entered free agency.

The deal angered many around the league, who eventually forced the NBA to investigate whether Kirilenko and Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov had some kind of side deal to make up the difference in salary — claims the league eventually dismissed as baseless.

Still, Kirilenko’s impact on the court has been far smaller in Brooklyn than anyone could have expected. After spending almost all of training camp and virtually the entire first two months of the season dealing with back spasms — he missed 25 of the first 29 games last season while the Nets floundered to a 10-21 record — he wound up playing in 45 games and averaging 5.0 points and 3.2 rebounds in 19 minutes, both career lows.

Kirilenko then was left on the bench twice during the playoffs by then-coach Jason Kidd, who seemed to shy away from Kirilenko because of his lack of outside shooting.

Kirilenko entered this season optimistic Hollins would give him more of a chance.

“I knew last year what I was coming to,” Kirilenko said on media day in late September. “I was ready for that, but again, it’s not fun when you’re on the bench and when you don’t have a chance to kind of be beneficial to the team.

“Of course I hope this year it’s going to change and I’m going be a little bit more [of a] contributor to the team.”