By all accounts, Kyrie Irving is as astute off the court as he is on it; he doesn鈥檛 make decisions without first thinking about his situation and considering all his options. When he chose to appear on ESPN鈥檚 First Take the other day, therefore, he knew what he was getting into and, more importantly, he knew what he was getting out of it. In putting himself on the line and taking any and all queries from preternaturally opinionated and inquisitive hosts Stephen A. Smith and Max Kellerman, he understood that he would be fueling speculation on why he forced a trade out of the Cavaliers and a seemingly cushy gig plying his trade alongside widely acknowledged hoops king LeBron James.
For all the willingness of Irving to feel the heat, however, he didn鈥檛 exactly wind up embracing it. Given how he alternated between dismissive one-word answers and cryptically convoluted statements, he didn鈥檛 seem all that intent to set the record straight once and for all. Not that those who watched him spar with Smith and Kellerman couldn鈥檛 deduce the truth behind his responses. That said, it鈥檚 precisely because all and sundry know what went down, anyway, that his inability to go on the record to confirm it comes off as a disappointment.
Consider the following give and take: 鈥淒id you talk to LeBron James before you and your representatives met with ownership and let them know you wanted out?鈥 鈥淣o.鈥 鈥淲hy not?鈥 鈥淲hy would I have to?鈥 鈥淚f you don鈥檛 speak to somebody, they might take it personally.鈥 鈥淵eah.鈥 鈥淒o you care about that at all?鈥 鈥淣o.鈥 It鈥檚 an exchange that lasted less than half a minute, and that, not coincidentally, had Irving using two and a half times fewer words to react to four questions than Smith did for the first question alone. In any case, it underscored the underlying reason for the 2011 first overall pick and four-time All-Star鈥檚 demand to be shipped out and away from a seemingly ideal position.
Nope, Irving didn鈥檛 have to wear a suit and subject himself to what amounted to a full-court press from Smith and Kellerman simply to highlight the extent of his dissatisfaction in a Cavaliers uniform. Then again, he didn鈥檛 have to troll the public in February when, in a popular podcast, he argued the merits of the Flat-Earth Theory. The long and short is clear, of course: He loves and craves the attention. It鈥檚 why he moved to distance himself from James in the first place. Sure, he competed for three straight championships alongside the larger-than-life personality that peers, in a poll done by their union, deemed 鈥淭he Player You Secretly Wish Was On Your Team.鈥 Unfortunately, the offshoot was less than palatable to him. He didn鈥檛 want the spotlight turned on him while a shadow loomed over him at the same time.
Which, for all intents, explains his presence on First Take. It wasn鈥檛 to spurt out such ridiculous nonsense as 鈥淥h, if you鈥檙e very woke, there is no such thing as distractions.鈥 It was to contend, and proudly, that 鈥淚鈥檓 ready to move on. I鈥檓 ready to be on my own. I鈥檓 ready to try out a new situation. I鈥檓 ready to be in an environment where I can feel like I can be happy.鈥 Enough said.
Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since 大象传媒 introduced a Sports section in 1994. He is the Senior Vice-President and General Manager of Basic Energy Corp.
