Kyrie Irving had a interesting history with the Brooklyn Nets as he was still one of the best players in the NBA despite going through some controversial times with the franchise. Irving always maintained that he wanted to stay with the Nets, but requested a trade when Brooklyn did not offer him a long-term contract.
After some back-and-forth between Irving and the Nets, Irving was eventually traded to the Dallas Mavericks. On Friday, Irving faced the Nets for the first time he was traded by the franchise in February of last season because of the disputes in the contract negotiations.
Going into Friday’s game, Irving said that requesting a trade from Brooklyn was the “best decision” that he’s made in his career because of all of the things that happened during his time with the Nets. After scoring 17 points in Dallas’ 125-120 win over the Nets, Irving said afterwards that facing Brooklyn was “just another game” according to Brian Lewis of the New York Post.
For the most part, it seemed that Irving was just playing his normal game aside from some dustups between him and Ben Simmons. Irving struggled shooting the basketball in the contest, but other than that, he seemed to be enjoying the competition for what it was.
Kyrie on facing the #Nets: “It was just another game to be honest with you. I dont know if its just a media thing against your former team to have this angst, this anger going against them. But for me personally, it was just another game going against some of my brothers." #Mavs
— Brian Lewis (@NYPost_Lewis) October 28, 2023
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