It's been widely believed that Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant started plotting about their plans to build a superteam in Brooklyn when they huddled together at the 2019 NBA All-Star Game.
But as it turns out, the process was in motion weeks before that.
A new book detailing the construction of the star-studded Nets, "CAN'T KNOCK THE HUSTLE," is slated to be released June 22. On Thursday, Fox Sports ran a lengthy excerpt on its website.
In it, author Matt Sullivan outlines a late-January meeting between Irving and Durant at Irving's home in Weston. It took place ahead of the Celtics-Warriors game on Jan. 25 at the TD Garden.
Sullivan writes the death of Irving's grandfather caused the enigmatic point guard to second-guess his pledge about staying in Boston.
"Despite his misgivings about the racialized history of Boston sports fans, Kyrie had told the Celtics crowd that he wanted to re-sign for the long term at a fan appreciation event in the fall of 2018. But three weeks after that, his grandfather died, sending Kyrie into a sudden spiral of depression for which he'd deeply regret not seeking therapy," Sullivan reports. "From that moment, he would tell his old friend Kevin Durant, 'life became way more important than basketball. Anything I was doing in basketball, I didn't really care.'"
Irving became increasingly mercurial around that time, eventually reneging on his promise to re-sign with the Celtics. Even though Irving didn't officially leave the Celtics until that summer, his mind seemingly checked out midseason.
Irving quit on the team during their semifinals loss to the Bucks. He signed a max deal with the Nets less than two months later, joining Durant.
More than anything, Irving was apparently sick of the environment in Boston.
"By the time KD arrived at his temporary mansion for their unfinished business, Kyrie had grown sick of creating a social distance from Celtics teammates for days at a time or else, as he was that month in January 2019, pointing fingers at them in public, especially around a loss in Brooklyn," Sullivan writes. "He'd tried to stop internalizing the media's misperception of his ego. He'd tried to be more present for his three-year-old daughter. To treat his job like a job. But self-care could begin professionally, on his own terms. He'd been charting a path home, by way of his boyhood team: the Nets."
The Nets acquired James Harden, who also quit on his team, at the start of this season. They steamrolled through the Celtics in the opening round, and Irving verbally spat on the city — even stepping on "Lucky."
Brooklyn currently leads the Bucks 3-2 in the semifinals. Irving is out with an ankle injury.
