Kyrie Irving has explained his exit from the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2017. He loved playing with LeBron James, but he felt a six-year stint on the same team was enough and made the monumental decision to leave.
In the mid-2010s, the league had many top-tier duos, including Kyrie Irving and LeBron James. They were the driving force behind the Cleveland Cavaliers’ success, headlined by the 2016 championship. Despite that, Irving thought he needed more freedom in his career a year later.
Irving left the Cavaliers via a trade with the Boston Celtics. However, it did not pan out well, as he only lasted two seasons with the team. The franchise then fully embraced Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown as their cornerstones moving forward.
It was the right decision for the Celtics due to the duo’s promising future. The Celtics eventually won the NBA Finals in 2024, while Irving was on the Dallas Mavericks. Irving is still chasing another championship, now in the Western Conference.
Now that Irving is 33 and playing for the Mavericks with Anthony Davis, he has reflected on his career. He was superb during his Cavaliers years, especially when his shot won them the championship in 2016.
Despite his rise to stardom, he wanted more control over his career path. The NBA Draft naturally sends players to teams they cannot control. That was why Irving took it upon himself to take charge and request the trade away from Cleveland.
Irving wanted to be the focal point of a team outside Cleveland. That was when the Celtics came up as the best option. They had a young core with Tatum and Brown, so a star like Irving was much needed.
“I love Cleveland, don’t get me wrong. I’m appreciative of all the things that they’ve done for me. I would’ve loved to choose the franchise I wanted to go to,” Irving said on his livestream on Twitch.
“I would’ve loved to develop next to some of my favorite players and some of my favorite people. Being a young player when you’re on a team that’s not winning a lot of games, it’s a lot of bad habits that form, and that’s what ended up happening to me when I was very young.
“I had a lot of bad habits, I was not a winner, I was not a good loser at all, I take my accountability. I had a lot of bad habits as a young player, and that came from losing games and just trying to get buckets all the time.”
Since 2016, Irving has been chasing another shot at a championship. He has reached the Finals twice, in 2017 and 2024, but his team lost both times.
The Mavericks could play in the Finals again with their promising roster. Irving and Davis are the established players, but they also have Cooper Flagg.
He will be only a rookie in the 2025-26 season, but he has an extremely bright future. His potential could propel the Mavericks to contention.
They do not have Luka Doncic anymore, but a future superstar like Flagg could become their new cornerstone for the next decade.
Irving won’t be the Mavericks’ driving force for long, but he is more mature now. He will accept his role as the team’s second or even third option.
