{"id":111863,"date":"2025-09-01T13:05:07","date_gmt":"2025-09-01T13:05:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/111863\/"},"modified":"2025-09-01T13:05:07","modified_gmt":"2025-09-01T13:05:07","slug":"key-nba-figure-calls-out-false-kyrie-irving-perception","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/111863\/","title":{"rendered":"Key NBA Figure Calls Out False Kyrie Irving Perception"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kyrie Irving\u2019s<\/a> reputation around the NBA was stronger than reported, according to Dallas Mavericks<\/a> minority owner Mark Cuban.<\/p>\n

At the time, Cuban had control of his team\u2019s basketball operations. As he searched for a star to pair alongside Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving was on the market as his Brooklyn Nets era was quickly coming to a close.<\/p>\n

In the public eye, Irving seemed like a hard guy to have in the locker room. <\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody called him a cancer,\u201d Cuban said on \u2018The Arena<\/a>.\u2019 <\/p>\n

\"Kyrie<\/p>\n

Mar 1, 2025; Dallas, Texas, USA; Dallas Mavericks guard Kyrie Irving (11) controls the ball as Milwaukee Bucks guard Damian Lillard (0) defends during the first half at American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images \/ Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

When Cuban researched further, he found out that the narrative didn\u2019t match the true reality. That was a key driving factor behind Cuban calling for an Irving trade a few years back.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverywhere he went, they were ready to get rid of him, but every player I talked to loved him,\u201d Cuban explained. <\/p>\n

\u201cI would start watching his old games\u2014after every game, guys dap up and trade jerseys. With Kyrie, people were hugging him like he was a cousin they hadn\u2019t seen in forever, right? They just loved the guy. And everyone I talked to said the same thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Mavericks provided Irving his fourth NBA team since entering the league out of Duke as the first-overall pick in 2011. <\/p>\n

He had a long tenure with the Cleveland Cavaliers, which included an NBA Championship victory in 2016. The following year, Irving requested a trade. He moved to the Boston Celtics. <\/p>\n

The Irving stretch is Boston would last just two years. After the 2018-2019 season, Irving hit the free agency market and signed with the Brooklyn Nets on a four-year deal. That ended up being three-and-a-half years of ups and downs. <\/p>\n

\"Kyrie<\/p>\n

Feb 25, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; Dallas Mavericks guard Kyrie Irving (11) shoots the ball against the Los Angeles Lakers during the first half at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images \/ Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

For the second time, Irving\u2019s stint would end with a trade. He landed with the Mavs in 2023. Since then, Irving has been with the Mavericks for two years. His 2024-2025 NBA season was cut short due to an ACL tear. Despite the setback, Irving and the Mavs agreed to a three-year extension back in July.<\/p>\n

So far, Irving\u2019s Mavericks tenure has improved the popular NBA narrative that he struggles to be a good fit as a veteran leader. While the Mavericks have gone through a lot in the past year, they are patiently waiting for Irving to return to form, getting back out on the court for his fourth campaign with the team.<\/p>\n

Before going down, Irving averaged 24 points, four rebounds, and six assists per game. <\/p>\n

More Fastbreak on SI<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kyrie Irving\u2019s reputation around the NBA was stronger than reported, according to Dallas Mavericks minority owner Mark Cuban.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":111864,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[434],"tags":[49,48,459,82],"class_list":["post-111863","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111863","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=111863"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111863\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/111864"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111863"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111863"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111863"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}