After the Dallas Mavericks defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder to reach the 2024 Western Conference Finals, Mavs star Kyrie Irving was all smiles when took the podium with teammate Luka Doncic. A duo that’s become as thick as thieves, the way they’ve helped each other off the court may be as important as what they’ve provided on it.
Speaking to reporters about what the experience has been like, Irving confirmed what everyone has seen since he arrived in Dallas:
“I just think this guy next to me has pushed me to continue to work on my game and continue to develop as a young leader,” Irving remarks. “I think the big word that we can agree on is just maturity.
Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving on what they mean to each other:
Doncic: “Nothing but supportive of everything I did…Just helped me mature a lot, realize to see the game in a different way, and obviously on the court it’s amazing to play with a guy like him…The leader he’s been… pic.twitter.com/QdZAaXBPEZ
— Noah Weber (@noahweber00) May 19, 2024
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Coming into Dallas, I was dealing with a lot mentally, spiritually, emotionally,” Irving explains, “and they embraced me with open arms.”
To say Irving was dealing with a lot is putting it mildly. In 2022-23, the season that the Brooklyn Nets traded him to the Mavs, the controversial combo guard was vilified.
Kyrie Irving Opens Up About Struggles That Led Him to Mavs
Frankly, Irving already had a less than stellar reputation after leaving the Cleveland Cavaliers and Boston Celtics high and dry while trying to find the right franchise to call home.
In both instances, it was clear that he left because he didn’t want to play in someone’s shadow. To that point, Cavs media members were woefully misguided by their adulation of LeBron James, asking Irving —who is close with his father —if he saw James as a father figure. In Boston, the fascination with Jayson Tatum was so intense that him becoming the face of the franchise was inevitable.
Kyrie’s Conspiracies
With both teams, he made headlines with his eclecticism as well.
From Flat Earths to Secret Societies
In Cleveland, Irving was briefly a Flat Earth truther. In his time with the Celtics, he advanced conspiracy theories about why John F. Kennedy and Bob Marley met their demise. However, while these comments caused side-eyes, they weren’t offensive to anyone. Though they had an impact on his reputation, with many failing to take him seriously, he hadn’t been characterized as a bad person.
That all changed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Though Irving was far from the only player unwilling to take the COVID vaccine, his status as a public conspiracy theorist was unique in the NBA. As a result, when he was hesitant about it, the media homed in on his comments.
It didn’t go well.
First, Irving posted a social media clip that claimed the vaccine was the brainchild of a secret society conspiring against African-Americans on behalf of the evil Abrahamic entity known as Satan. This type of thinking has been shared by many African-Americans though, as it’s a population that’s understandably distrustful of the American government and people in positions of power. As a result, it didn’t cause as much of an uproar as it might otherwise have.
Of All People?
A year later, Irving posted a clip from far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.
This was a double whammy for Irving. As an African-American universalist, Irving supporting Jones was counterintuitive given the latter’s xenophobia. Furthermore, Jones’ false claims about the tragic events in Sandy Hook led to him losing nearly $1 billion in a defamation lawsuit.
The fact that Irving continued to believe there was an unknown actor releasing the vaccines was problematic. Yet, to this day, people still unsure of how a vaccine escaped from a lab. That said, it wasn’t the worst thing he could have done.
Publicly tying himself to a person like Jones was.
That’s Offensive
When Irving also supported the idea that Black Hebrews are the only authentic descendants of the ancient Israelites, it caused another uproar.
Irving originally made his feelings on the topic known in 2021. However, because of the attention his comments about the COVID outbreak had caused, there were even more eyes on him. With the world watching his every move, he then made the biggest mistake of his career.
Though there are doubts that Irving ever fully watched the movie he promoted on his Twitter account, his decision to post a link to an undeniably antisemitic pseudo-documentary on Black Hebrew Israelites in 2022 was the straw that broke the camel’s back. In the film, the Holocaust called a hoax and Jewish people were said to be Satan-worshippers.
Honestly, it’s easy to see why this film appealed to Irving. Aside from it being a sensationalized conspiracy theory, it tied some of his previously supported theories together. To Irving, it must have seemed that the Jewish elite were part of the secret society conspiring against African-Americans and giving the go-ahead to release the COVID vaccine.
Frankly, that’s going to sound crazy to most people. That said, with so many events in the world that are hard to understand, even the most well-meaning individual may fall by the wayside trying to find the truth.
That appeared to be the case with Irving.
Fractured Beyond Repair
Regardless of his intent, Irving sharing that antisemitic stance fractured his relationship with the Brooklyn Nets beyond repair.
The two sides already weren’t on stable ground due to Irving’s refusal to comply with New York City’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate. As a consequence of Irving’s decision, he wasn’t allowed to play until January. Even then it was because injuries forced Brooklyn’s hand.
Ultimately, he only played 29 games in 2021-22, which turned out to be his final season with the Nets.
While James Harden’s trade request led to Brooklyn breaking up their Big 3 altogether, the strain caused by Irving’s absence and attitude that was the catalyst. Ahead of the 2022-23 trade deadline, the Nets sent Irving to Dallas, removing a dark cloud from over the organization.
Brooklyn has had a rough go of it since then with Ben Simmons in street clothes more than a jersey. The drama surrounding the underutilization of Cam Thomas was another notable issues. Yet, the Nets may not have ever been in that position if Irving just took the vaccine.
Turning Over a New Leaf
“I don’t have a perfect journey…,” Irving says.
As a former Rookie of the Year and All-Star Game MVP with eight All-Star selections and a championship ring, nobody can deny Irving’s greatness. They’ve tried to do that by leaving him off the list of the 75 greatest NBA players of all-time. However, even when the boos are raining down on him from all directions, people know he’s one of the best hoopers they’ve ever seen.
Nonetheless, it wasn’t until he arrived in Dallas that people began to respect him as a man. He still beats his own drum but is more mature in his interactions with everyone. He’s also become a fountain of positivity, a far cry from the abrasive nature he developed early in his career. Now, he’s able to be the type of leader that people wanted him to be in Boston for Tatum and Jaylen Brown.
Addressing Irving’s locker room impact, Doncic says, “the leader he’s been for us —not just for me, but for us —he’s been amazing. Always positive energy.”
“When he came, (he was) nothing but supportive of everything I did, everything we did,” Doncic adds. “But (he) just helps me mature… to see the game in a different way.”
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