Kyrie Irving’s mood swings makes Nets officials “queasy”
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – SEPTEMBER 27: Kyrie Irving #11 of the Brooklyn Nets poses for a photograph during Media Day at HSS Training Center on September 27, 2019 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. (Emilee Chinn/Getty Images)
By Ty Anderson, 985TheSportsHub.com
The Brooklyn Nets are already getting their first taste of The Kyrie Irving Experience.
It appears they got it before the season even began, actually, as detailed in a feature by ESPN’s Jackie MacMullan.
From MacMullan’s story:
Yet Irving’s infamous mood swings, confirmed by his ex-teammates, which followed him from Cleveland to Boston to Brooklyn, are the unspoken concern that makes Nets officials queasy. When Irving lapses into these funks, he often shuts down, unwilling to communicate with the coaching staff, front office and, sometimes, even his teammates. Nets team sources say one such episode occurred during Brooklyn’s trip to China, leaving everyone scratching their heads as to what precipitated it.
Oh wow, what a weird, totally out-of-character thing for Kyrie to put the Nets through. It’s not like he did this to the Celtics, completely derailing a championship-level team that took on his day-to-day mood, last year. Or that his personality, which is so painfully hit-or-miss it almost scared teams off this summer, is not that of a player you want leading your franchise to a title.
I’d be “queasy,” too, knowing I just locked myself into four years and $141 million of this nonsense.
But according to MacMullan, the Nets’ hope is that Kevin Durant, who is expected to miss the entire 2019-20 season as he recovers from an Achilles injury, will be the one that brings the best out of Kyrie when the time comes.
“I look at Kyrie as somebody who is an artist,” Durant told MacMullan. “You have to leave him alone. You know what he’ll bring to the table every night because he cares so much about the game.”
Irving will make his return to Boston on Nov. 27.
Whether or not he’s talking to his teammates then, however, is a different story.
