The Rise, Fall & Rise Again of Kyrie Irving

after he made one of the biggest shots in NBA history Irvings it up go the next seven years of Kyrie Irving's career were a total Fiasco since the 2016 Championship Kyrie remained a phenomenal player a dribbling wizard who averaged 26 points per game and made five all-star teams but he nearly threw it all away Irving's offc Court actions made people forget that he's a basketball Savant and any news about Kyrie seemed to be negative due to his constant Wars with the media suspensions from the NBA and falling out with his teammates and it hurts me

sometime when we have to sit up here to talk about stuff that divides the game now now we got to answer for what this idiot has done it was unbelievable that one player could produce so much drama and force his way out of three different franchises you had Cleveland to exit you had Boston which was a mess you had Brooklyn which was a mess when Kyrie left Brooklyn he was considered a locker room cancer a ticking time bomb that could explode at any given moment but then he landed in Dallas and things started to change

in the 23 24 season Kyrie embraced his role as a leader on a young Mavs team he was saying all the right things and most importantly he stayed on the court nearly winning another NBA championship this is the rise the fall and the rise again of Kyrie Irving and how the most unorthodox player in the modern NBA went from a team killer and PR disaster to a well-respected NBA superstar and before he started believing beling that the Earth was flat Kyrie was always a basketball Prodigy both his parents are former basketball players and Kai started

dribbling a ball as soon as he could walk Kyrie was so obsessed with basketball that he dribbled and shot all the time writing on his wall that he'd become an NBA player one day in high school well I played all the time um winter fall summer spring but there was one big problem his size as a freshman in high school Kai was only 5' 7 and super super skinny as a sophomore he reached 510 but despite averaging 29 points per game nobody knew about him because he played in the lowest division in New Jersey as

a senior Kyrie reached his current height of 6'2 and with the increase in size he became Unstoppable by this time everybody knew who he was Irving was named high school All-American co-mvp of the Jordan brand Classic Tournament and was unanimously ranked as a top five high school player in the country Kyrie was wanted by every major University but he accepted the scholarship from duke and in his first eight games for the Blue Devils Irving was a strong candidate for NCAA freshman of the Year averaging 17 points and five assists per game while shooting an insane

54% from the field 45% for three and 90% from the free throw line unfortunately he suffered a foot injury that sidelined him until March Madness where he helped the Blue Devils reach the sweet 16 and even though Duke lost to Arizona Kyrie was by far the best player on the court and easily the most talented player in college basketball at the 2011 NBA draft the Cleveland Cavaliers had an Easy Choice selecting Kyrie with the first overall pick and immediately after the draft Irving reached out to a famous trainer Michael Lancaster who pushed his ball handling

into a new Stratosphere Lancaster made Kyrie keep his dribble so tight that he could SWAT away opponent's hands like flies while he was handling the basketball they also worked on his footwork and balance and all that hard work paid off but Kyrie is one of the only people he'll let you play he'd rather play defense on offense he picks he starts his point of attack and he lets you dictate how this is going to go y Kyrie immediately made his Mark in the NBA he was just three votes shy of becoming a unanimous Rookie of

the Year in the next two seasons he made the All-Star team each year he became the All-Star game MVP as well as the MVP of the 2014 FEA World Cup his ball handling made him a superstar and his victims ranged from Brandon Knight oh no going to work to Kobe Bryant and the entire USA olympic team but despite all the individual success one thing was missing the Cleveland Cavaliers were a mess and Irving wasn't even close to sniffing the playoffs but then it all changed because of one man LeBron James in his first season back

in Cleveland LeBron led the Cavs to the NBA finals but due to injuries to both Kevin Love and Kyrie the Cavs lacked the Firepower to fend off the Golden State Warriors in the 2016 season Irving struggled with minor injuries throughout the regular season which hampered his stats but when the playoffs rolled around Kyrie was finally healthy which allowed him to showcase the full Splendor of his talent the Cavs lost just two games on their way to another NBA finals and Kai averaged 25 points on 48% shooting and 46% for three but then in the NBA

finals against the 73 and9 Warriors the Cavaliers were losing 3-1 a deficit no team had ever recovered from Cleveland's dreams of winning the title seemed doomed and they needed a miracle to survive and that miracle was provided by LeBron and Kyrie who played the best game of his career both Cavs scored 41 points but it was Irving who hit all the toughest shots with a mesmerizing array of layups and off-balance jumpers over multiple Defenders Irving made 17 out of the 24 Shots he took including five for seven from three and was a game high plus

20 in his 40 minutes on the court the Cavs then took game six at home but then they had to win game seven on the road the championship game was incredibly tight and for virtually forever the score was tied at 8989 and then it happened Irving and Curry oneon-one Irving puts it up it's good Kyrie Irving from down the Cavs won their first title in franchise history and the first for Cleveland after a 52-year drought I've never seen two guys play at that level for three straight straight gam the craziest thing i' ever seen like

Bron and Kyrie were just on we play well they just play better but then the Warriors added Kevin Durant which was the ultimate basketball cheat code and while the Cavs managed to get to the 2017 finals basically unchallenged they couldn't match up with the Bay Area Juggernaut Kyrie was phenomenal throughout the playoffs especially in the finals averaging 29 Points on 47% shooting and 42% from deep but Cleveland lost in five games and that's when the first signs of trouble creeped in Irving was tired of being considered a robin to LeBron's Batman Kai wanted his own

team where he was the guy you know when he first came back I was 22 23 so I was just a young kid trying to help Cleveland patch up their relationship with him I got drafted the year after so when I came in it was like are you going to be better than LeBron are you that was my first question when I got into Cleveland so it was mixed emotions the whole time that we were uh competitors and then when he came back as my teammate you know what I mean came back to Cleveland that's

his home so without any warning or consultation with LeBron he requested a trade from the Cavs Cleveland didn't have to trade him since he had two years left on his deal and in retrospect they shouldn't have traded him but like many other sports teams they didn't want to deal with a disgruntled star I asked for a trade because I was looking for something different I was a man of my word when I went to the organization I sat the big the higher reps down and said look I know you have future plans tell me right

now they told me their future plans I said look I'm not this isn't for me and one month after his trade request went public Kyrie became a member of the Boston Celtics in a lobs sited trade that brought back and injured Isaiah Thomas and Jay Crowder while this whole process was weird because nobody ever wanted to leave a team that made three straight NBA Finals what was even weirder was Kyrie's media appearances while he was still a member of the Cavaliers Kyrie broke out the infamous take that he believed the Earth was flat on that

podcast I was just really like man what's going on within our world and just a whole bunch of Truth and conspiracy I was just like whoa this is too much for me and then I come out and say that and then woo reaction it got in September 2017 Kyrie appeared on a radio show where he doubled down on his Flat Earth stance claiming the whole thing was part of a social experiment he was conducting when I started doing research on my own and figuring out that there is no real picture of her like there's not

one picture of her Kyrie later backed down from his comments but that was far from the end of his controversies I tell him he's trolling us I don't know I don't get it after an injury sidelined him from the playoffs Irving was forced to watch his team get beat by LeBron and the Cavs in the 2018 Eastern Conference Finals and before the next season started Kyrie seemed happy and confident that he could win in Boston famously proclaiming that he intends to resign with the Celtics in the upcoming year you guys will have me back I

plan on resigning here next year but then it all went sideways following an early season loss to the Knicks a reporter wished him Happy Thanksgiving Kyrie clapped back and said f Thanksgiving because he's part native American on his mother's side it's understandable why Kyrie might not be a big fan of Thanksgiving however his delivery of that message was far from perfect and he later apologized on Twitter then in January of 2019 Irving threw his teammates under the bus saying that the young guys on the team don't understand what it takes to win a championship but

Kyrie Irving as the leader he wants to be must figure it out and this is not the way to do it a few days later Kyrie admitted to the media that he actually called LeBron James apologizing for his immature attitude when they played together in Cleveland and seeking advice about his leadership struggles in Boston I had to uh call Braun you know and tell him like you know I apologize for being that young player that wanted to everything at his you know at his fingertips and I wanted everything to uh be at you know my

threshold I wanted to be the guy that led us the championship I wanted to be the leader I wanted to be all that and you know the responsibility of being the best player in the world and leading a team is something that's not meant for many people by doing so Irving essentially bashed his teammates again and then admitted he made a mistake coming to Boston in the in the first place that was a a step for me just to move forward in my life you know it takes a very very strong individual to you know

replay a lot of the experiences that you've had you know a lot of anger that you you know had built up you know that where you didn't address the situation and you allowed it to fester and then it was just combustion then you realize like man I didn't have to deal with that the same way I dealt with that um you know I didn't have to go about it that same way a few weeks later when the media asked him about his upcoming free agency and his claimed intent to resign with the Celtics Kyrie simply

said that he doesn't know anybody's they should ask him about that on July 1st and that he'll do what's best for him and his family at the end of the day I'm going to do what I feel his best for my career and I don't owe anybody and despite Kyrie playing to his usual standards and making the all NBA second team it was clear that the team chemistry was seriously derailed during the second round of the playoffs against the Bucks Irving played the worst playoff series of his career after which he delivered another disastrous press

conference after reporters asked him about his shooting struggles following a game four loss Kyrie responded in the worst possible way yeah who cares he then capped off this Fiasco by saying that he should have taken 30 shots instead of 22 because he's that great of a shooter you know the expectations on me are going to be Sky High you know for me the 22 shots you know I should have shot 30 in the deciding game five the Celtics lost by 25 which surprised nobody Kyrie shot 6 for 21 from the field in the game and

was arguably the worst player on the floor he finished the series shooting just 35% from the field and an abysmal 22% from three after this series and all the comments he made during the year the Celtics were happy to see him go in free agency in Just 2 years Irving managed to piss off and ruin the plans for two different franchises and his next move was something that all NBA fans saw coming for months at the 2019 All-Star Game while still a member of the Celtics Kyrie was seen talking extensively to Kevin Durant and the

whole world suspected they were in cahoots to plan their free agency together and what the world suspected Kyrie confirmed in July of 2019 signing a deal with the Brooklyn Nets together with Durant in his first game for the Nets Kyrie scored 50 points becoming the first player in NBA history to score 50 in a team debut oh no oh yes despite averaging a career-high 27.4 points per game a shoulder injury forced him to miss all but 20 games of the season in the offseason both Kai and KD got healthy and they got together on a

podcast where Irving made headlines once again and not in a good way we don't really need a coach tell me a player in the history of sports that never needed coaching that might be one of the most ignorant things I've ever heard a player say when the 2021 season started the Nets fans finally saw the long awaited debut of Kevin Durant who had been nursing an Achilles injury he suffered in the 2019 NBA Finals to make things even better Brooklyn also traded for James Harden early in the season and the trio of KD Harden and

Kyrie promised to be the most Unstoppable offense ever with so much talent on the floor defenses were forced to pick their poison and at all times one of the three best scorers in basketball was open however injuries to all three stars limited their time on the court and the Superstar Trio played just eight games together in the regular season on top of their injury troubles Kyrie was still at war with the media calling them pawns on social media but for the first round of the playoffs against the Celtics all three Nets Allstars were healthy unleashing

the full Wrath of their offensive Talent Brooklyn won that Series in five games scoring an average of 124 points with an insane 130 offensive rating easily the best rating in a single playoff series Kyrie KD and Harden averaged 85 points per game shooting a combin 53% from the field 45% from three and 92% from the free throw line to rub in the Nets Victory Irving stomped on the Celtics logo which wasn't appreciated by the Boston fans however in the second round against the Bucks both kyy and Harden got hurt still if KD's toe didn't step

on the line during the potential game winner this story might have been different but it did and the Bucks won the series in overtime of game seven and despite the disappointment everybody believed the Nets super team would win the title in the upcoming years if they managed to stay healthy we didn't think we could beat the Nets in full power that was a team that we thought we might not be able to get past for three or 4 years but that's when the real fun began and the Kyrie Factor came into play the world didn't

know it yet but Harden KD and Irving would only play one more game together for Brooklyn before the start of the 2022 NBA season 99% of all NBA players participated in the mandatory vaccination to combat the pandemic only three players refused Us Michael Porter Jr Jonathan Isaac and Kyrie Irving Porter and Isaac were out for the season due to injuries however Kyrie was perfectly healthy but due to his stance he was unable to play in all home games because of New York City's vaccine mandate this led to the Nets GM Shawn marks removing Kyrie from

All Team games and practices resulting in Kyrie missing the first two months of the season I was not expecting a mandate to be brought down in a way that it wasn't going to allow me to play at all I had that opportunity to play away game still but there there was no plan in place there was no vision of like how it's going to work for our team and I and I think that really impacted um not just me but a lot of people so just had to sit in sit in that hot seat for

a little bit and deal with it man life of a martyr bro however in late December despite remaining unvaccinated the Nets announced that Irving would return to the team and play in away games in a decision largely influenced by the various injuries to Brooklyn's roster on January 12th the Net's super team Trio of Durant Harden and Irving finally all suited up in an NBA game again reminding the world of how potent their offense could be with all three Superstars the Nets demolished the Bulls 138 to12 and for a moment their hopes of winning a title

looked great again but it would be the last game they ever played in the same uniform Kyrie missed the next two games because the Nets played at home after which KD got injured and was ruled out for 6 weeks and that was the final straw for James Harden who was getting fed up with Kyrie and the uncertainty he brought to the team so the beard asked for a trade seeking a more stable situation and during the February trade deadline Harden got his wish getting traded to Philadelphia for Ben Simmons and Seth Curry overall the Net's

big three played Just 16 games together with a record of 13 and three however just a few days before the Harden trade New York mayor Eric Adams announced that New York City was lifting its vaccine mandate for municipal workers meaning that Kyrie would be able to finally play in all games however the damage to team chemistry had already been done and Harden still insisted on getting traded and just 3 days after Adams announced the news the beard was gone and the Nets received 20 cents on the dollar playoffs right around the corner so we got

a fast track into you know getting getting used to each other but I'm I'm excited you know I think everybody got what they wanted and because Ben Simmons didn't even play a single minute for the team which was another drama in its own right the Net's defense was atrocious and BR Brooklyn's offense wasn't as potent without a third Superstar somehow the Nets made the playoffs but in the first round against the Celtics Brooklyn got swept and their title window closed faster than anyone could have predicted in game one of that series Irving flipped off a

fan adding fuel to the fire of hate he was already getting in Boston plus a $50,000 fine he received from the NBA well we've never seen that from you this season where you are running down the floor flicking people off this the first time you actually caught it because it's a big time game I respond in different ways so if some somebody's gonna call me out on my name I'mma look at them straight in the eye and see if they really B it most of the time they're not a 4- nothing loss was a slap

in the face and a big wakeup call for the team everybody believed was going to win the championship however that wasn't the end of all the chaos in the off season Kevin Durant who was clearly tired from all the Kyrie and Ben Simmons drama asked for a trade even though he still had four years left on his contract Durant then went a step further and demanded that the team either fir Steve Nash and GM Shawn Marx or let him go it was arguably the most aggressive trade Demand by any player in NBA history thankfully owner

Joe Sai held his ground refused KD's ultimatum and didn't succumb to the pressure to trade him Against All Odds both Kyrie and KD started the 2023 season for the Nets and they were joined by Ben Simmons who finally made his debut for the team but when the season started the Nets were in a Abomination Simmons looked like a shell of his former self the Nets had zero on ball defense and their offense relied on KD and kyri isolations with a defense that couldn't stop some college teams and a barely average offense the Nets lost six

out of their first eight games both Kyrie and KD clashed with Coach Steve Nash after which Nash got fired but that's not all ladies and gentlemen oh no the Nets onc Court problems were just a minor thing compared to the show they produced off the floor with the main protagonist being Kyrie Irving of course Kyrie tweeted an anti-semitic message after a documentary he watched and while the league and the Nets gave him a chance to apologize he failed to do so can you please stop calling her a promotion what am I promoting put it out

on your platform but I'm promoting it do you see me doing do you see me in front put it out there people are going to say that you are put there just like you put things out there right finally the net suspended him for eight games and the whole world was left wondering what is wrong with Kyrie Irving if you take Kyrie Irving brain and you put it inside of a bird the bird is going to start to fly backwards when Irving finally returned Ben Simmons and other role players caught some steam and Against All

Odds Brooklyn started winning games at the midpoint of the season they had a 27 and4 record the second best record in the Eastern Conference by then Kyrie wanted to secure a contract extension with the team considering all the BS he had pulled in The Last 5 Years Irving was viewed as a a ticking Time Bomb who could explode at any moment they're not winning anything with him in Brooklyn and I think in Brooklyn they're starting to understand that and without any surprise the Nets declined to give Kyrie the max extension he wanted but because they

didn't want to lose him for nothing in the summer Brooklyn made a logical move and decided to cash in on his talent while they still could so the Nets traded him to Dallas in exchange for Dorian finny Smith Spencer Den witty an unprotected 2029 first round pick and two second round picks soon after Brooklyn also traded Durant to Phoenix and just like that the third super team that Kyrie was on collapsed in record time the whole world believed that Dallas made a big mistake in trading for Irving and giving him a 3-year $126 million extension

especially after Irving and donic failed to even make the postseason in 2023 the Dallas Mavericks are an absolute mess let's say what it is but then in the 2024 season everything changed Irving remained healthy for the majority of the year and was one of just 11 NBA players who averaged 255 and five for the season with traditionally high shooting percentages Kyrie was just 3/10 of a per shy of a 50 4090 season shooting 49.7% from the field 41.1% from three and 90.5% from the free throw line his alleyoop dunk versus the Nets and a crazy

left-handed game winner against the Nuggets were the biggest highlights of Dallas's season looking in for Irving Irving for the win a southp finish from Kyrie but even more importantly Kyrie wasn't a PR nightmare anymore uh it starts with me as one of the leaders on the team I got to be better make sure that uh staying communicative this was a Learning lesson for sure but I'm proud of all our guys uh we all stepped up at the right time and uh we gutted out this win he said all the right things in the media he

became a leader on and off the court and it was clear that he established great chemistry with all his teammates and coaches and this all showed in the end result Kyrie and Luca led the Mavs past the Clippers the Thunder and the Timberwolves to reach the NBA finals which was the first time since 2011 that one team defeated three 50- win teams to reach the championship series with many big shots in the playoffs and Flawless Behavior off the court this was Kyrie's Redemption season and even though he and Dallas failed to win the 2024 championship

against a stacked Celtics team nobody was saying anything bad about her after a turbulent 6-year span where he burned three different franchises Kai is finally back to doing what he does best being a basketball wizard thanks for watching Non-Stop and if you like this one we have another video for you right here