Mavs' Kyrie Irving Speaks on Brooklyn Return, Rehashes Nets Exit with New York Media

Mavs superstar Kyrie Irving put on a show in his return to Barclays Center, then rehashed his Nets exit with New York based media.

BROOKLYN — Kyrie Irving played his first game at Barclays Center since being traded to the Dallas Mavericks, helping to lead a 119-106 victory over the Brooklyn Nets. He put on a show, scoring 21 of his 36 points before halftime and dishing out five assists on the night, alongside Luka Doncic's 35 points, 18 rebounds, and nine assists.

Irving made a concerted effort to be aggressive as Doncic was the frequent focus of Nets double teams. Irving put on a show, hitting tough short-range jumpers with turnarounds, executing acrobatic finishes, knocking down pull-up 3-pointers, and even flushing home an emphatic alley-oop dunk. 

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With New York media in the house, the focus of Irving's postgame press conference was on the failed super team with the Nets that included Kevin Durant and James Harden before resulting in all of them being traded to different teams. Between off-court occurrences, including New York City COVID-19 laws clashing with Irving's stance on vaccinations, causing him not to be eligible to play home games, and an indefinite suspension resulting from posting a link to content deemed anti-semitic, and a lack of synergy in contract talks, various significant moments resulted in his exit.

Irving wasn't interested in doing much rehashing of a past situation. Still, he highlighted how conversations between him and the Nets that "needed" to happen before last year's trade deadline never happened — resulting in him looking to get to a new situation, ultimately being his trade to the Mavs. 

"I mean, I don't want to get too deep into it because I love protecting the people that I'm in business with, even if it doesn't work out," Irving said. "Again, I wish all those guys well. But conversations that needed to be had weren't had before the trade deadline, and I don't know if anything needed to be salvaged."

Other elements mentioned by Irving included the need for him to gain his "peace of mind" by ending up elsewhere in a situation where he could avoid the "behind-the-back talk" with the media that he felt transpired in Brooklyn. 

"I just think it was time to get my own peace of mind and go somewhere where I was able to thrive and be in a situation where I didn't have to worry about kind of behind-the-back talk or the media talk or not knowing how to handle real-life circumstances that have nothing to do with the game of basketball," Irving said. "It has everything to do with how you handle someone as a person. While I was here, I learned a lot of lessons. I've made my peace again, like I said, and I just want to move forward."

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When asked if anything could be done differently or have been changed to keep him with the Nets, Irving highlighted the various moments in his Nets tenure that tend to be brought up, starting with his injury against the Milwaukee Bucks in the Eastern Conference Finals. Other turning points included Kevin Durant's foot being on the 3-point line during Game 7 of the 2021 Eastern Conference Finals, resulting in a 109-109 tie, instead of a game-winning shot, along with Harden seeking a trade to depart from Brooklyn. 

"Things could have changed, and you look back at the past, and you have 20-20 vision — this could've gone right or if this would've happened," Irving said. "If I didn't get injured versus the Bucks, do I still ask for a trade? If KD's foot wasn't on the 3-point line, are we talking about a different legacy here? If James doesn't ask for a trade ... all the woulda, coulda, shoulda, wouldas, hopefully after this night, we can just put that to rest and just move forward, and I can look forward to the rest of my career and just handle it in Dallas and going after my second championship."

The bottom line for Irving, as a New Jersey native, is that he has always taken pride in putting on a show in New York, and he was happy to be back. After the Mavs' victory over the Philadelphia 76ers on Monday, Irving claimed there isn't an added motivation playing against a former team and feels there is an overstatement of these types of moments from the media when reporting on them. 

"Excitement? Yeah. Excitement because I get to play back in Barclays," Irving said. "But outside of that, there's nothing deeper to look into, and I think we need to do a better job of that by not making it something else other than sports."

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Whether playing for the Cleveland Cavaliers, Boston Celtics, Nets, or Mavs, playing in front of family and friends back home makes playing in Brooklyn special. 

"Everything that I've learned about myself has come from being in the city and being in Jersey," Irving said. "So when I got an opportunity to play for the New Jersey Nets, or play for the Brooklyn Nets — I always make that mistake — it was a childhood dream."

Irving's parting words did include an admission that while championship aspirations were not realized during his Nets tenure, he felt the need to take "moral stances" to make a change, but acknowledged how there were actions he looks back on from how the situation unfolded that were mistakes as an imperfect person. 

"Obviously I fell short in terms of the championship aspirations [in Brooklyn]. But for me, I think it was bigger than a championship here," Irving said. "I had to really take some moral stances that propelled me into a place in my life that I had to become accustomed to. There were some political things that were going on here as well that I couldn't control that I was responsible for. There were some things that I did on my own accord that I look back on, and they were mistakes. I have to be accountable for those things. I'm not perfect. One thing I can say is, I've been able to learn from things and continue to push forward."

Mavs' Kyrie Irving 'Excited' to Play at Barclays Center Again After Nets Trade

Irving's focus remains on helping to lead the Mavs to a championship as a superstar backcourt partner with Luka Doncic. It has been a struggle for both players to avoid injuries and stay in the lineup simultaneously. Still, with a 27-23 record, the team did sweep a road back-to-back since Irving's return from a six-game injury absence, setting up a needed start to an effort to close the pre-All-Star break schedule on a high note. 

The Mavs have the luxury of familiarity to work with during this season's stretch run instead of trying to learn on the fly after shuffling the roster around to acquire Irving as they did last season.