“I never felt like myself throughout the season… Life of a martyr bro” - Former NBA champion says he was worried about getting traded by the Brooklyn Nets this season
The Brooklyn Nets had a very unstable 2021-22 season. It all started with the news of Kyrie Irving being unable to play due to his COVID-19 vaccination status. Although he rejoined the team later in the season, the former NBA champ revealed that he never felt like himself. It was evident as he struggled to perform with consistency.
That is especially shocking to hear, seeing as he scored a career-high and franchise-record 60 points, a week after scoring 50 against the Charlotte Hornets. Nonetheless, the All-Star guard missed a lot of games for the Brooklyn Nets, so hearing that he he was not up to full speed is understandable. The games around those big scores were relatively mediocre.
Speaking on the latest episode of The ETCs with Kevin Durant hosted by Eddie Gonzalez, Kyrie spoke about what it felt like returning to action after missing over half of the season.
(From 7:50)
"I never felt like I was back.
"There was nothing to lose," he continued. "It was only, you know, like the journey to enjoy at that point because I was sitting at home, I don't even want to say sitting at home, I was wondering, at home, what my future was going to look like.
"Whether I was going to be traded, whether I was going to be released, whether I was going to get the opportunity to be on another team, how I was going to spin this for myself in a positive way, you know, so I kept affirming to myself, things are gonna change.
"I never felt like myself throughout the season, because I'm usually sustaining a level of growth throughout the year instead of trying to catch up with everybody that's been playing it for four or five months. You know, they, they've been at it every day since October or September.
"I was at it, maybe September, October, I was healing from my ankle injury. I was still dealing with that. And when we got into training camp in San Diego, I was not expecting, you know, a mandate to be brought down in a way that it wasn't gonna allow me to play at all like.
"I had the opportunity to play away games still but there was no plan in place, there was no vision of like, how it's gonna work for our team and I think that really impacted not just me but a lot of people. So, just had to sit in that hot seat for a little bit and deal with it man. Life of a martyr bro."
With the New York City COVID-19 mandate, Kyrie was not allowed to play in New York. Despite several other unvaccinated players in the league, Kyrie's case had more coverage because he was not helping out his team.
Kyrie Irving was shut down in the Brooklyn Nets' 2022 NBA playoffs first-round tie
Although the attention was majorly on Kevin Durant, Kyrie also struggled during their first-round series. The Boston Celtics put together a defensive masterclass to shut down Kyrie and Durant, and the rest of the Brooklyn Nets.
With those players not contributing offensively, much of the heavy lifting was done by Bruce Brown. It is worth noting that Kyrie had an astounding Game 1, finishing with 39 points on 60% (12-of-20) shooting from the field.
In the remaining three games, Kyrie averaged 15.3 points while shooting 37.2% from the field. His three-point shooting was worse, as he converted on only 18.2% in that stretch.
Kyrie Irving isn’t getting enough slander for averaging 15.3 PPG on 37.2 FG% and 18.2 3P% in the last 3 Games.
He played worse than Kevin Durant that series. https://t.co/WrLjmWH2Re
Their disappointing loss to the Celtics means that the Brooklyn Nets will have a lot to figure out, one of which will be a contract extension for Kyrie. One thing is for sure, whatever decision they come to during the offseason will be in the team's interest.