Kyrie Irving is one of the most skilled players of our generation. His dribbling stands up with the all-time greats and he has one of the most electric layup packages of all time. Along with that, Irving is one of the most gifted shot-makers in recent memory. When you go by the eye test, Kyrie could be considered the greatest by so many.
However, for everything Kyrie can do, it seems to not always translate to winning. While he emerged as an All-Star early in his career, he didn’t make the playoffs with the Cleveland Cavaliers until LeBron James got there. After he left the team as a champion, he had a tenous tenure in Boston where he was held responsible for poisoning the locker room in the 2018 season.
Now that Irving is in Brooklyn, a lot has followed him here as well, such as his vaccine opinions. However, some statistics reflect that Irving may not even be the valuable player on the floor everyone thinks he is.
Kyrie as a first option:
His team’s record with him: 45-42 (51.7%)
His team’s record without him: 54-37 (59.3%)
His teams also had more than 2x more playoff wins without him (11) than with him (5)
An absolute failure of an attempt of being that guy. pic.twitter.com/XWEA1wF5Mu
— HaterMuse (@HaterMuse) April 6, 2022
This is another reason why stats are sometimes extremely misleading. No NBA team would elect to keep Kyrie off the floor if they can help it. However, this does show that Irving’s teams are more stable and consistent without him. This Nets team most definitely needs him on the floor, but he isn’t the first option.
Outside the Celtics, Irving has never been the primary option. He hasn’t ever been looked at as a player that can single-handedly win a championship, so this was always known that Irving would not be the first option on a championship team.
Irving is one of the most lethal individual players on the court, but his effectiveness in team setup is often doubted. Irving has enough ionic highlights, game-winners, and performances to remind everyone of how good he is.
