Kyrie Irving was asked about the Kevin Durant trade following his Mavericks debut, and how it brought the official end to the Nets’ big three that started when Durant and Irving signed with Brooklyn in 2019.
Irving, traded just days before Durant, said that the blowup of the superteam was a long time coming.
“I think this was in the works like after year one,” Irving said. “I wasn’t sure about whether or not I wanted to be in Brooklyn long term. Again, the things that were happening behind the scenes, I just did my best to put my head down and work as hard as I could.
“There were some unfortunate circumstances that came up there that were out of my control. whether it be the mandate with the vaccine or missing games, being suspended, just little things that put just wrenches in our journey.”
Irving told reporters after he was dealt that he felt “very disrespected” at times when he was with the Nets, and was happy Durant was able to “get outta there.” But they will still be the faces of one of the biggest failures the NBA has ever seen, though Irving believes there is some important context being left out of that discussion when looking back on Irving, Durant, and James Harden winning just one playoff series together.
“We played very limited time together,” Irving said. “There were injuries and a lot of things that took place. I would have like to see that work for the long term, but there are no mistakes or coincidences. Gotta move forward.”
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