After Kyrie Irving traded to Dallas, a familiar quote: "But it is a business at the end of the day." (As said ex-CEO Yormark and ex-Coach Kidd.)

Feb. 8, 2023

Even after his trade from the Brooklyn Nets, hastening the trade of Kevin Durant and the end of the "big three" "Clean Sweep" "scary hours" star experiment, All-Star guard Kyrie Irving made news upon his first press conference in Dallas, joining the Dallas Mavericks.

As shown, the tabloid back pages from Wednesday were scornful, with the New York Post claiming Irving "whines" about his time in Brooklyn, and the New York Daily News quoting him as saying "I felt very disrespected."

That's debatable--Irving, as they say, marches to a different drummer and his high regard for himself is often, but not always, matched by his performance, his availability, or his unwise statements about the team's management or coaching. So Irving's calling himself "incredibly selfless" might not hold water.

But I was struck more by his response to a question about leaving his teammate Durant, who joined the Nets with him as free agents in a pact in the summer of 2019.

“We still remain brothers,” Irving said, as quoted by The Athletic. “But it is a business at the end of the day, as we always say, and we got to look out for my family and ultimately I want to be at peace every time I come into work, rather than things hanging over my head or wondering what people think about me in the building or whether or not a report is going to come out tomorrow that I don’t talk to my teammates, which is untrue.”

Feb 8, 2023

It's a business

That reminded me of two other Brooklyn Nets-related quotes, which remind us that these are "sports entertainment corporations" (to quote subsidy skeptic Bettina Damiani), not civic trusts.

"After giving everyone a sampling opportunity, we are a business," then-Brooklyn Nets and Barclays Center CEO Bertt Yormark said after the team's first season, explaining how the team raised ticket prices. 

(The cheap seats, once $15, had become $25, for example. They're $35, at least, today.)

Or former start point guard Jason Kidd, signed as the team's coach, left in July 2014 after one year, joining the Milwaukee Bucks after a failed power grab. “This,” he declared, “is a business.”

Ironically enough, Kidd is now Irving's coach in Dallas.

The coverage

From The Athletic, 2/7/23, Kyrie Irving says he requested trade because he felt ‘very disrespected’ by Nets:

“For me, personally, sitting in this seat today, I just know I want to be in a place where I’m celebrated, and not just tolerated, or just, you know, kind of dealt with in a way that doesn’t make me feel respected,” Irving said.

Irving has had a turbulent six years since demanding a trade out of Cleveland, with untimely injuries, playoff disappointments, multiple locker room blow-ups, streams of controversy while with the Celtics and Nets, and more than one lengthy absence from Brooklyn. Those absences were due either to a suspension, his going missing or, of course, his refusal to take the COVID-19 vaccine last year when there was a New York City requirement for athletes to do so to play games in Brooklyn or Manhattan.

Last summer, Irving attempted to gain leverage with the Nets for a new contract but was rebuffed, and ultimately opted into the final year of his current contract, for $36.5 million.

“There were times throughout this process when I was in Brooklyn where I felt very disrespected,” he said. “I worked extremely hard at what I do. No one ever talks about my work ethic though. Everyone talks about what I’m doing off the floor. So I just wanted to change that narrative, write my own story.”

From the New York Post, 2/7/23, Kyrie Irving felt ‘very disrespected’ by Nets before Mavericks trade

“I work extremely hard at what I do. No one ever talks about my work ethic, though. Everyone talks about what I’m doing off the floor.”

But off the floor is where Irving got himself into hot water time and again. Be it with his refusal to get the COVID-19 vaccine, which meant he wasn’t available for 35 Nets home games last season, or with his endorsement of an anti-Semitic film this season followed by an obstinance toward an apology, all of which ultimately led to an eight-game suspension without pay. There was acrimony over contract negotiations, too.

From the New York Daily News, 2/7/23, Kyrie Irving: ‘I felt very disrespected’ in Brooklyn, quoting something of a word salad:

Irving has also been under fire for deleting the apology he posted on Instagram after the Nets handed down a suspension for “conduct detrimental to the team” for posting a film widely considered antisemitic on his social media channels.

”Yeah I delete a lot of things on my Instagram. I’ve had things that have happened before in my life — probably not as drastic as that moment — which led to a lot of confusion and uncertainty in what I meant and what I stand for,” he said. “And I had to sit up in these mics and explain to the world who I am. I know who I am. So yeah, I delete things all the time, and it’s no disrespect to anyone within the community. I’m just living my life.”

Irving was asked if he still stands by the apology he gave.

”I stand by who I am and why I apologized, and I did it because I care about my family, and I have Jewish members of my family that care for me deeply,” he said. “Did the media know that beforehand, before they called me that word: antisemitic? No. Did they know anything about my family? No. Everything was assumed and put out before I had anything to say, and I reacted instead of responding emotionally, maturely. I didn’t need to be defensive or go at anybody.

“So I stand by my apology. I stand by my people, everywhere. All walks of life, all races, all religions.”

Two views

A much harsher take, unsurprisingly, came from New York Post columnist Phil Mushnick, writing 2/9/23 NBA has coddled every whim of ‘disrespected’ Kyrie Irving

For all his griping and perfidious fantasies, Irving has been a benefactor, not a victim, of racial injustice.

No white player would have survived a claim that there was no slavery before the Civil War and that all blacks will be condemned by God to hell. He’d have been banned for life — good riddance — faster than Adam Silver could say “Donald Sterling.”

But from the moment Irving posted his promotion of the belief that all Jews are headed for hell and that the Holocaust that murdered six million Jews didn’t occur, Silver and the NBA have sought remedies to mitigate Irving’s words and beliefs as inspired by a black lunatic movement.

Well, it depends on whether you think Irving's simple tweet of a movie that includes anti-Semitic tropes was malice or ignorance. Noted Mushnick, "Among his NBA brethren, including Silver, only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar had the integrity and dignity to call Irving what he is: A butcher of world history in service to racial extremists in the Louis Farrakhan mold."

In Inside the downfall of the Nets’ Kevin Durant-Kyrie Irving era, the New York Daily News's Kristian Winfield 2/9/23 noted that the superstars chose the Nets, but then became alienated. The three examples. "according to a source familiar with Irving’s thinking," of the "disrespect" Irving cited were:

• the Nets' criticism of Irving's decision not to get vaccinated (and thus, unusual in the U.S., run afoul of the local vaccine mandate),
• the use of the phrase “unfit to be associated with the Brooklyn Nets” after his posting of the link to the film, even while speaking more delicately in private
• the criticism from GM Sean Marks after  "Irving proclaimed he wanted to “co-manage the franchise” in the wake of a playoff loss.

Winfield called Marks' stated caution about only wanting players fully committed was "an understandable response, given the rancor Irving had already inflicted at the time. It was also a sign that the Nets were completely ill-equipped to deal with the personalities who had chosen to occupy their arena."

The aftermath

NetsDaily pointed to GM Sean Marks' thanks to Durant for “the moments and memories he delivered our fanbase” and the commensurate absence of praise for Irving.

The New York Post pointed to a belated tweet, four days late, simply thanking Irving, while Durant merited a mini-video.

It's worth noting that, in his first two games playing for Dallas, and without the team's existing star Luka Doncic, Irving led the Mavericks to victories with a strong performance. (Meanwhile, the Nets have reshaped their defensive identity with some solid players, including former Mavericks Spencer Dinwiddie and Dorian Finney-Smith.)

So, has Irving turned over a new leaf? He surely has his next contract in mind, whether from Dallas, assuming he likes the way the team works, or potentially reuniting as a free agent with LeBron James in Los Angeles. (Note: according to journalist Marc Stein, owner Joe Tsai vetoed any trade with the Lakers, so as to deny Irving his preferred destination.)

The question is whether any of the other teams will aim, as had the Brooklyn Nets (reportedly), to include performance clauses in the contract, ensuring that Irving faces financial penalties if he misses games for anything other than injury.