Kyrie Irving clearly cost the Nets a lot of wins this season. In Boston, he cost them some wins as well, with all the dysfunction he caused. According to the star guard himself, he may have also cost the Cavs some major victories as well.
In a chat on the “I Am An Athlete” podcast, Kyrie Irving broke down his Cleveland tenure and explained how his ‘immaturity’ may have cost them a championship.
“If I was in the same maturity line and understanding of who I am, and I look back, we definitely, definitely would’ve won more championships, because there would’ve been a better man-to-man understanding about what I’m going through. I didn’t know how to share my emotions,” Irving said. “I didn’t know how to do that. So instead of sharing, I isolated myself. I just started pouring myself more into the game — I had one of my better seasons but I wasn’t connecting with everybody as much during the championship year. So 2017, it was a different year for us. We went against Golden State, we went against a great team. When you’re not a great team and not clicking on all cylinders and together, you’re easily defeated. You’re defeated before you can get to the arena.”
After spending a season at Duke, Irving was drafted 1st in 2011 by the Cavs, where he remained for his first six years in the league. It was in Cleveland when he first blossomed into a star, and in Cleveland, with LeBron James, where he won his first (and only) Championship. For whatever reason, Kyrie elected to leave in 2017 and requested a trade from the front office. Things were never the same again.
Kyrie has changed in a lot of ways since then, both on and off the court — but has yet to replicate the success he once had as a Cavalier and it really makes you question if he should have left that team at all.
Nevertheless, Irving has moved on now and is at least man enough to look back and reflect upon the mistakes of his past. After an especially abysmal season in Brooklyn, let’s hope he continues that trend and works toward being his best self in the years to come.
