Sean Marks conceded that Kyrie Irving's vaccine status was one of several likely factors that led to James Harden reaching a point of frustration where he sought a trade from the Brooklyn Nets to the Philadelphia 76ers.

“I probably wouldn’t be honest with myself if I thought we weren’t all frustrated that they couldn’t be together on the court at one time, and that being one of the reasons (Irving’s vaccine status), sure,” Marks said. “One is another is obviously injuries. We’ve seen Kevin have injuries, we’ve seen James have injuries, you know, there’s a lot of factors going in there.”

Marks also stopped short of accusing the Sixers of tampering.

“It’s just the nature of the beast,” Marks said. “It’s just the nature of the world we’re in. I’m not going to start making accusations. This particular set of circumstances was played out in the media far earlier than any conversations were ever had. If this is where it ends up, that’ll be completely up to the league to look into these circumstances.”