Kyrie Irving and the Mavericks host his former team in Dallas on Friday night, and Irving was asked by Brooklyn Nets reporters how he looks back on his departure from Brooklyn. Irving said while “it was the best decision of my career to ask for a trade,” “there was a lot of chaos and noise, as usual, from the media.”
Irving did not elaborate or set the record straight on what he believes really happened with the Nets. But he let it be known that he thinks reporters did a bad job covering the situation.
The downfall of the Nets began when Irving declined to be vaccinated against COVID-19 in the fall of 2021. The following February, point guard James Harden left for Philadelphia.
Irving reportedly requested a trade in the summer of 2022 before ultimately opting into the final year of his contract. Head coach Steve Nash was fired less than a month into the season while Irving served a suspension over posting a link to a conspiracy-laden, antisemitic documentary film.
After Irving returned in early November, Brooklyn hit its groove. The team looked like an NBA championship contender before star teammate Kevin Durant suffered a knee injury.
As the Nets slid back down the standings in January, Irving surprised NBA fans by requesting a trade leading the trade deadline. Brooklyn dealt him to Dallas, then dealt Durant to Phoenix a few days later.
“It was rough all the way around,’’ Irving told Nets reporters this week. “After COVID and after the situations that took place there, there were circumstances that were either in my control or out of my control. And I didn’t want to play the blame game.”
Irving and the Mavericks did not make the 2023 postseason after his arrival.
“I think my criticism is fair, as long as you keep it on the court and judge me off the success of our team and don’t try to dig too deep into who I am as a person,” Irving added.
“I don’t show who I am as a person in this business, because it’s always constant, constant, constant eyewitness views, just random things that I don’t necessarily agree [with] that’s being written about me.”
Vague criticism of reporters is nothing new from Kyrie Irving. The way his off-court behavior and personal beliefs have been covered seems to have soured his relationship to the media permanently. And he has no problem throwing the barbs right back at media members who take issue with him.
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.