-
Ramona Shelburne, ESPN senior writer
Long before these It was clear to everyone that the Mavericks would win the Western Conference, but before they beat the Clippers, Thunder and Timberwolves to step onto basketball's grandest stage for the first time in 13 years, Kyrie Irving began reflecting on his three years with LeBron James and his run with the Boston Celtics and how that time changed him.
“I didn't know how to control that at the time. I just went into every day feeling like I had to be better than my teammates,” Irving told ESPN. “We were very competitive and something that I always instilled in my teammates when I first came on board was not to be afraid to challenge other players. That was something we shared as young players. We wanted to establish ourselves as a great team. That's how we got started.”
Irving has been careful this season not to embarrass himself or the Mavericks by dwelling on his controversial past, as his time in Dallas gave him a fresh start but also an opportunity to reflect on his career.
His Mavericks co-star, Luka Doncic, is perhaps the NBA player closest in skill and role to James, his former co-star with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
His head coach, Jason Kidd, was one of his basketball idols growing up in New Jersey.
“When I was in the fourth or fifth grade, my dad took us to a Nets finals game, and we were sitting in the front row,” Irving said, “and when I saw that up close, I went home and wrote 'I'm going to the NBA' in my closet so I'd see it every day.”
Dallas general manager Nico Harrison was one of Irving's trusted business partners at Nike until Harrison left the company and Irving's relationship with Nike fell apart.
And now in the Finals, he'll face the team he tried and largely failed to lead at 26 years old, hoping to break out of James' shadow in Cleveland and forge his own NBA legend.
“The Boston players know my game really well. They understand my game really well and were able to strategize for me,” Irving said Wednesday after Game 3. “Getting through this is something that's been on my mind for a while. Obviously, I knew there would be challenges, but this is what makes us better.”
Irving struggled against Boston's bigger, more physical guards in his first two games back, averaging just 14 points and shooting 35 percent from the field. He looked uncomfortable as boos rained down on him from the TD Garden crowd.
The key to overcoming that, Irving said after the Mavs' 38-point win in Game 4, was realizing he wasn't alone. Doncic also struggled in the series and received a level of criticism he'd never experienced before.
“We're trying to understand each other in an incredible way on the biggest stage in basketball,” Irving said of the series. “It's great, but it can also be confusing if you don't know how to stay calm in the middle of it.”
Doncic was superb and efficient in Game 4, scoring 29 points to lead the Mavs to a commanding victory and extend the series to Game 5 in Boston at 8:30 p.m. ET.
“This is his first opportunity, his first taste of what it's like to be on this stage and not play to your ability and have every mistake get exaggerated,” Irving said of Doncic. “And he responded very well. I expected it. I think a lot of people who have seen Luka and know Luka expected it. You just didn't know how it was going to happen. He's done some things that I'm very proud of. He's grown.”
0:27
Kylie falls after tough ending
Kyrie Irving drove and made a difficult layup to give the Mavericks the points.
Irving is After games, he takes a long time to gather his thoughts, compose himself and get dressed before speaking to the media. His outfits often have a message, like his silver feather earrings, a tribute to his late mother's Native American heritage.
This is in stark contrast to the chaos Irving has caused with his last three teams.
In 2017, the then 25-year-old asked to leave Cleveland, wanting to lead his own franchise away from James. Two years later, after that failed, he teamed with Kevin Durant in Brooklyn, hoping to bring a title to the team he'd rooted for since childhood. The next three years were eventful and controversial, making him the NBA's persona non grata. Then, at the 2023 trade deadline, he was traded to Dallas, where he teamed with another alpha superstar, the very type of player Irving felt the need to leave seven years earlier.
Books have been written about James and Irving's breakup in Cleveland and why Irving asked for a trade the summer they won a championship together in 2016. Maybe it was a matter of timing, a split in each player's life and career. Maybe, as James and Irving have suggested in the past, a mistake was made.
After some reflection, Irving came to a different realization.
“I think there were some unfair expectations at the beginning. [in Cleveland]and [James] “He'd just come back from Miami,” Irving told ESPN, “and he was expected to win right away. And a young guy like me, a three-time All-Star, All-Star Game MVP. I had my own share of accolades.”
“So there's confidence there. But having that confidence at that young age, if you don't have a chance to get to know what the person is like, it can sometimes be taken the wrong way.”
Playing with Doncic Comparable to James in skill, size and basketball IQ, he's something of a second thought for Irving.
The techniques he learned playing alongside James helped him coexist and thrive with Doncic, but this time around, Irving is a veteran, not a “kid” as James once called him. The roles have been reversed.
“When you play with a guy who's a top-five or top-three pick and he does the job without you, he's on the team,” Irving said, “but you just realize — I never want to tell you to step back, but you just go along for the ride.”
“When it's my time to lead, it's my time to lead. [Doncic’s] It's time to lead, it's time for him to lead. Or, if someone makes a move in the locker room, we have to allow it and accept it, not resist it.
“This is his team. He's been here the longest and has built friendships with the other guys. So when I came in as a rookie, instead of trying to fit in with the team, it was like, 'Nah, just be yourself. Let him show you and then let him lead too.'”
The reason Dallas was willing to trade him last season when his value was at an all-time low after a dismal performance with the Nets was because Harrison and Kidd had a previous good relationship with Irving and he had had great success alongside James.
“They're very similar,” Kidd told ESPN about Doncic and James, whom he coached as associate head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers in 2020. “IQ-wise they're very similar. They're both off the charts. Luka doesn't have the athleticism that LeBron has. But they're similar in a lot of ways and they both know the game really well.”
Harrison placed great importance on his personal relationship with Irving.
“I've known him,” Harrison told ESPN, “since he was 16 years old.”
So the franchise decided to take a leap of faith, believing their track record with Irving was good enough for success.
What neither Kidd nor Harrison could have predicted is how much of an impact Irving would have on Doncic.
At 25, the Mavs star is the same age Irving was when he asked to leave Cleveland, and he listens to Irving and looks to him for guidance on and off the court.
“He's brought a sense of calm to the team and to me,” Doncic told ESPN. “His maturity with him on the team has been unbelievable. I'm learning from him every day.”
