It was a chaotic season for Kyrie Irving. Before games even began, he was ruled out for home games due to his status as an unvaccinated player.
He missed months of time before being allowed to play at all, and his return sparked some tension within the team that tore the whole thing down.
Now that it's over, Uncle Drew feels free to talk about his experience and his goals for the next few years.
“I’d like to put together four straight years of team dominance,” Irving said. “Winning 60-plus games. Going deep in the playoffs and having fun building relationships that extend beyond the court.”
The Nets got swept in Round 1, but it wasn't even the worst part of the season. All of the uncertainty that came in between is what really got to Kyrie.
“I never felt like I was back," said Irving. "There was nothing to lose. It was only the journey to enjoy at that point. I was sitting at home, wondering at home what my future was going to look like, whether I was going to get traded, whether I was going to be released, whether I was going to get an opportunity to be on another team. How I was going to spin this for myself in a positive way. I kept affirming to myself that things are going to change, people around me, I’m grateful to them for affirming that things were going to change. But I never felt like myself throughout the season because I’m usually sustaining a level of growth rather than trying to catch up with people who have been playing for 4-5 months. They been at it every day since October… September-October, I was still healing from my ankle injury, when we got to training camp in San Diego, I was not expecting a mandate to be brought down in a way that allowed me to not play at all. I had an opportunity to play away games still, there was no plan in place, no vision of how it was going to work for our team. I think that really impacted, not just me, but a lot of other people. Just had to sit in that hot seat for a little bit and deal with it.”
The future is clouded with uncertainty for Brooklyn. Even though Irving and Durant remain close friends, their partnership on the court is being questioned by many in the basketball community. In three years together, they have practically nothing to show for it.
Hopefully, before it's all said and done, the duo will string together some playoff runs. At the very least, that appears to be the plan. Even after everything that happened, Kyrie is committed to sticking around and seeing this through.
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