Kyrie Irving – The best ability is availability

When NBA superstar Kyrie Irving steps on the court, he is without a doubt one of the best point guards in the league. He is a former champion and is also in the conversation as one of the greatest ball handlers the NBA has ever seen. In the 2020-21 season, Irving became the ninth player in NBA history to join the prestigious 50-40-90 club. That is to shoot an incredible 50 per cent from the field, 40 per cent from three and 90 per cent from the free throw line.

However, despite all the achievements and the outstanding ability he has, he is without a doubt one of the most unreliable players in the NBA today.

Since leaving the Cleveland Cavaliers for the Boston Celtics in August 2017, things have not gone well for Irving.

Irving spent two seasons with the Celtics – 2017-18 and 2018-19 - he averaged 24.1 points per game, 6.1 assists per game and 4.4 rebounds per game. While this may look good, this really does not tell the full story. Irving played a total of 127 regular-season games, he missed 37 due to injury. With Irving in the line-up, the Celtics went 78-49, that is a 61.4 winning percentage. This is not too bad, until you see what Boston did without the All-Star guard.

Kyrie Irving against the Indiana Pacers in the 2019 Playoffs (Image: Getty Images)

Over the two seasons, in the regular season, the Celtics have gone 26-15 without Irving in the team. This is a 63.4 winning percentage and this season in particular, every time the point guard was on the bench, or away from the team, the Celtics had a record of 12 wins and three defeats.

It only got worse for Irving as in the playoffs, the team were better without Irving. In his first post-season, he was injured and the Celtics made it all the way to Game seven of the Eastern Conference Finals where they were knocked out by LeBron James and the Cavs.

In the 2018-19 post-season, the Celtics were knocked out in the second round by the Milwaukee Bucks, led by the “Greek Freak”, Giannis Antetokounmpo. The Celtics, with Irving, finished with a record of five victories and four losses in the playoffs.

Irving’s time with the Celtics would end in a very unpleasant way as he would go on to sign a four-year deal with the Brooklyn Nets as a free agent in June 2019. The Nets, however, were unwilling to sign Irving alone. They also signed free agent and arguably the best player in the world at the time, Kevin Durant.

Not many teams win free agency, but this was a comprehensive win for the Nets as they went from a very young team with a clear ceiling without a superstar, to a team that would be at the top of all the betting lists to win the championship as soon as Durant was cleared from his achilles injury.

In March 2020, the Nets would fire head coach Kenny Atkinson. This raised many questions, and the finger was immediately pointed to Durant and Irving as the cause. The interim coach to be appointed was the Nets’ assistant coach Jacque Vaughn.

The Nets would finish the season without any success and in September, the Nets finally appointed a coach. They appointed former NBA player and hall of famer, Steve Nash. Not long after Nash’s appointment, Irving made a very distasteful comment on Durant’s new podcast, The ETCs, about the coaching situation.

Steve Nash, head coach of the Brooklyn Nets (Image: Getty Images)

He said: “I don’t really see us having a head coach. You know what I mean? KD could be a head coach. I could be a head coach.”

Even though Nash had no previous NBA coaching experience, the comments made by Irving were very inappropriate.

The situation between Irving and the Nets would slowly begin to deteriorate as a video was leaked of him attending a birthday party with some of his family members. He was expected to play against the Philadelphia 76ers (Sixers) at the start of 2021 but was later ruled out for “personal reasons”. As the videos of him surfaced, it was reported that the Nets were unaware of Irving’s situation and were very unhappy.

Following a league investigation, Irving was fined $50,000 for violating the NBA’s health and safety protocols.

The leave of absence from Irving only added to the ongoing narrative of him being a poor teammate but also consistently unavailable.

On the back of the guard’s actions, the Nets front office decided to trade for Houston Rockets star, James Harden. The Brooklyn Nets suddenly went from championship contender to the team with the greatest offensive trio in NBA history and not to mention the overwhelming favourites to win the title.

In 2021 NBA post-season, the Nets got to the second round of the playoffs where they would face the Bucks. Not long into the opening game, Harden tweaked his hamstring and was unable to play. Despite the loss of Harden, the Nets won the opening two games and had one of the favourites reeling.

In game four, Irving would sprain his ankle and the hopes for a championship in New York fell upon the shoulders of Durant. The Nets v Bucks series would go all the way to game seven which saw Antetokounmpo and Durant deliver all-time great performances.

In the final seconds of regulation, with the score 109-107 in favour of the Bucks, Durant hit a three to put the Nets up one with a single second left on the clock. However, after careful review, the officials corrected their original decision and gave two points as a small portion of Durant’s foot was on the three-point line. With the score now tied, the game would go into over-time. Milwaukee would go on to win the game in over-time and win the NBA title that year.

Irving was opposed to getting the COVID-19 vaccination and following a mandate requiring New York athletes to be vaccinated from the mayor, the Nets announced that the all-star wouldn’t practice or play games.

Between October and the middle of December 2021, Irving was out of the team completely. But this all changed on December 17 as the Nets stated that they intend to bring Irving back on a part-time basis – his vaccination status prevented him from playing full-time. The decision to bring Irving back was important as it was very clear early in the 2021-22 season that without Irving, the Nets did not look like a team that could win an NBA title.

In January 2022, Durant would suffer an MCL injury against the New Orleans Pelicans. With Irving being part-time and now Durant’s injury, Harden was the only one that the Nets could depend on but Harden’s patience with Brooklyn had run out and he requested a trade due to the instability of the team. With all the ongoing problems, the Nets lost 11 straight games and went from number one in the East to contending for a play-in spot.

Harden was eventually traded to the Sixers. In return, the Nets received all-star Ben Simmons, Seth Curry, Andre Drummond and multiple first-round draft picks. The trade was viewed as a win for both teams and the Nets retained their status as a title contender.

The 2021-22 season for Brooklyn would end the same way it started, in misery. The Nets were swept away in the first round of the playoffs by the Celtics. Irving’s inconsistent availability, Simmons’ health and the Harden trade took a massive toll on the team.

To the surprise of many, Irving had made it clear that he wanted to stay in Brooklyn on a long-term extension. But general manager of the Nets, Sean Marks, did not have the same view.

In an interview, he was asked about Irving’s future, to which he said: “We will see what it looks like with Kyrie moving forward. We will see if it’s the right fit for both sides.

In the off-season, the Nets allowed Irving to seek any potential trade deals but instead Irving opted into the fourth and final year of his contract. While the Irving saga continued, Durant requested a trade. Like Harden, he too had run out of patience and wanted a fresh start. But after a lengthy meeting involving the former MVP, his agent and the Nets hierarchy, he recommitted to the organisation.

Irving playing for the Nets against his former side, the Boston Celtics (Image: Getty Images)

Eventually the Nets managed to restore some peace in the dressing room and managed to start the season with their roster intact. This was until October 2022 when Irving posted a link on his social media platforms to a documentary called Hebrews to Negroes: Wake up Black America. According to a report done by Rolling Stone, the film promotes the thoughts that “Black Hebrew Israelites, which have a long history of misogyny, homophobia, xenophobia, Islamophobia, and especially antisemitism.”

This was not received well. The all-star got major backlash and the Nets owner, Joe Tsai, took to social media to voice his disappointment in Irving and stated: “This is bigger than basketball.”

Following a $500,000 pledge to work to fight hate and intolerance in the community by both the Nets and Irving, the New York franchise suspended Irving for a minimum of five games. Finally, after the suspension, Irving apologised on social media for his behaviour and actions.

As the mid-way point of the 2022-23 season approaches, the Nets’ first half of the season is, for all intents and purposes, a success. Despite Durant’s current injury, the Nets are among the top six sides in the conference. They are, as usual, one of the favourites to make the finals if they can stay healthy. But once again, Kyrie Irving threw another spanner in the works. He has now requested a trade.

Irving has made it clear that he wants a long-term deal but the Nets, not trusting his availability and rightfully so, are unwilling to commit to a deal at this juncture. With both sides unable to agree on an extension, the Nets have finally decided to pull the plug on their relationship with Irving and trade him to the Dallas Mavericks.

Irving teams up with the sensational Luka Doncic as he now attempts to have a fresh start. His deal with Dallas states that he will join until the end of the season at which point, he may be offered a long-term contract, or he will be an unrestricted free agent. This is a big gamble that the Mavericks are taking as no one can predict what Irving may do next.

Irving with his new Dallas Mavericks teammate, Luka Doncic (Image: Getty Images)

It is safe to say that his time with the Celtics and the Nets have both ended in complete failure. No one since LeBron James has been able to handle the baggage that comes with Irving. At 30 years of age and only one championship in his resume, time will tell if he ends up regretting not staying with James in Cleveland.