NEW YORK — Nets star Kyrie Irving pushed back on the notion he is attempting to change the narrative surrounding him as a bad teammate.
Even though he said that narrative cost him on Media Day.
One day after starting center Nic Claxton said Irving “is ready to change the narrative on himself,” the All-Star guard said there’s a “very small level of focus over here, if any, on changing the narrative.”
“My focus is not there,” he told reporters at Nets practice on Tuesday. “I can’t even pour energy into that. The reality is that we’re here, and for the last year, you guys asked my teammates a bunch of questions about me, specifically, and why I’m not here. Now that I’m here, we get to see the consistent effort I would have put forth last year and the year before that if everyone started off the season healthy and we had a good start from the beginning.
“So, I’m appreciative of the comments. The respect level extends both ways. I understand the position that I’m in, and I carry It with the humble responsibility of being able to lead by example and not just being a person who comes up with a bunch of fancy words, but actually acts on it. Just figuring that out daily is not a perfect job or easy job. and it’s not meant to be a solo act. I got a lot of help with these guys out here.”
The narrative, to be clear, is that Irving is not fully invested in being a basketball player and would sooner prioritize other things than being with his teammates. It’s a train of thought that became popular after Irving declined the COVID-19 vaccine and thus was unable to make his debut last season until January, 30-plus games into the year.
“I didn’t appreciate how me being (un)vaccinated all of a sudden came to be a stigma within my career that I don’t want to play, or I’m willing to give up everything to be a voice for the voiceless,” Irving said back on Sept. 26. “And which I will stand on here and say that, that wasn’t the only intent that I had, was to be the voice of the voiceless: It was to stand on something that was going to be bigger than myself.
“I gave up four years, 100-and-something million deciding to be unvaccinated and that was the decision with the contract: get vaccinated or be unvaccinated and there’s a level of uncertainty of your future, whether you’re going to be in this league, whether you’re going to be on this team,” he continued. “So I had to deal with that real-life circumstance of losing my job for this decision.”
Nets head coach Steve Nash used the words “unbelievable” and “incredible” to describe Irving’s approach so far in training camp and preseason. It was the presence the Nets sorely missed to start last season, when Irving’s status as unvaccinated rendered him ineligible to play in home games at Barclays Center (and away games until the second leg of the season).
Nash didn’t feel it was his place to say Irving is a different leader than he’d been in the past.
“But I guess it’s kind of inevitable in some respects,” he said. “I think from his opening press conference where he felt like there was a narrative around him, that implies that he wants to change that, but all I can judge is his effort and his attitude and both have been exceptional. His application, but also his leadership. He’s done a great job mentoring our young players trying to bring the group together and those components are invaluable.”
Ready for takeoff
Nash said everyone except Joe Harris (foot soreness), Seth Curry (ankle surgery rehab), and TJ Warren (foot injury rehab) will be available for Wednesday’s season-opener against the New Orleans Pelicans. The New York Daily News reported Harris will likely be on a minutes restriction, playing in “a little bit of a limited capacity” when he does make his return.
Nash said Curry played four-on-four last week with the hope being he scrimmages again on Wednesday or Thursday. Reserve combo guard Edmond Sumner has also healed from his hip strain and could challenge second-year guard Cam Thomas for Curry’s open minutes.
Sharpe looks good
Second-year big man Day’Ron Sharpe has visibly put on muscle mass that will help him battle bigger centers this season. Asked how much weight he put on, Sharpe said he doesn’t know how exactly the team tracks body mass.
“They’re always telling me different formulas and stuff, so I really don’t know the numbers,” he said. “But I know I look good.”
