“Thus the blind will lead the blind and the deaf will shout to each other until their voices are lost.” —Herman Melville
“This isn’t even a conspiracy theory. The Earth is flat. The Earth is flat. …It’s right in front of our faces. I’m telling you, it’s right in front of our faces. “They lie to us.” — Kyrie Irving, 2017 on the Road Trippin’ podcast with RJ and Channing
In 2017, while with the Cleveland Cavaliers, Kyrie Irving made his now-famous declaration that the world was flat. It took a year, but Irving finally admitted that he was wrong, at least that he was wrong to publicly defend such a stupid proposal.
Seven years later, Irving knows for certain that the world is truly round because his journey has taken him full circle: from Cleveland to Boston, from Brooklyn to Dallas. Now, at 32, Irving returns to Boston where, starting Thursday, he will try to win his second NBA title when the Dallas Mavericks face the Boston Celtics in Game 1 of the NBA Finals.
Irving’s is a fascinating story. While Luka Dončić is arguably the Mavericks’ best player, Irving is the most compelling figure in this series. With much.
Dallas Mavericks guard Kyrie Irving (left) with guard Luka Dončić (right) during game three of the Western Conference finals against the Minnesota Timberwolves on May 26 at the American Airlines Center in Dallas.
Glenn James/NBAE via /Keynote USA/Getty Images
There is a lot to unpack in this Final. There is the historic fact that two black coaches, Joe Mazzulla of the Celtics and Jason Kidd of Dallas, will meet in the NBA Finals for the first time since 1975.
There is the reunion of Celtics center, Kristaps Porzingis, with Mavericks point guard, Dončić. Porzingis and Dončić were Mavericks teammates, and apparently not always happy, from 2019 to 2022. In Irving, Dončić found a compatible, if unlikely, star to share with, while Porzingis found a perfect role with the forward Jayson Tatum and point guard Jaylen. Brown in Boston.
I find it fascinating that Irving chose this series as a quest for redemption. Redemption for what? By whom is he redeemed? And because?
Why did he say the world is flat? Because he tweeted a link to a movie that some called anti-Semitic? Because she showed up at a post-match press conference wearing a keffiyeh? Because she was wearing basketball shoes with “No more genocide” written on them?
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The overarching narrative of the series is Irving’s return to Boston, where he played from 2017 to 2019. Some might call this the return of the prodigal son; A more appropriate theme of the series is that the teacher returns to confront his students.
Irving joined the Celtics in August 2017 after asking to be traded by the Cleveland Cavaliers, who drafted him in 2011 at age 19. Irving was 23 years old in 2016 when he won his first NBA title with LeBron James. Irving was the younger brother of James, who was 32 years old at the time. He was developing a reputation as a unique one-on-one player, perhaps the best pickup guard since Earl “The Pearl” Monroe.
James had won his first and second NBA championship in Miami. He returned to Cleveland to give his hometown Cavaliers their first title and teach Irving what it took to win a title. When Irving left for Boston in 2017, the idea was that he would be the sage who taught young Brown and Tatum what it took to win a championship, just as James had taught him. Brown had completed his first season in the NBA and Tatum was a rookie.
The difference, of course, is that LeBron was 32 years old when he returned to Cleveland to pass on his knowledge. Irving was only 25 years old when he arrived in Boston. Irving’s pronouncement about the world being flat told me (and probably many others) that he may not have been the best guide to guide the young Celtics through troubled waters.
The championships never came but there was learning. Irving was too young to lead. Brown and Tatum, despite their youth, were perhaps too wise to follow.
From left to right: Boston Celtics players Al Horford, Marcus Smart, Kyrie Irving, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown play in the game against the Cleveland Cavaliers on October 17, 2017 at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland.
David Liam Kyle/NBAE via /Keynote USA/Getty Images
So there was friction. Those Celtics never accomplished what they could have accomplished. In 2017-18, they reached the Eastern Conference finals and lost to Cleveland. Irving missed those playoffs with a knee injury.
The Celtics reached the 2018-19 Eastern Conference semifinals. Irving played poorly and relations deteriorated. After saying he would stay in Boston, Irving left Boston for the Brooklyn Nets in July 2019, leaving Tatum and Brown to create their own identities, which they have done.
I’m not sure what lessons Tatum and Brown learned from Irving, but after Irving left to fight in the desert, the Celtics’ young stars experienced victory. They made it to the conference semifinals, conference finals, NBA finals, Eastern Conference finals and now, once again, the NBA Finals.
“Obviously there were some ups and downs,” the ever-diplomatic Tatum told reporters last week. “But for me, being a first- and second-year player, being around a superstar pretty much every day and seeing how to navigate that space and then obviously on the court, he’s one of the most talented guys I’ve ever seen.”
He added: “It seems like a long time ago, but I have very fond memories of having Kyrie as a teammate.”
Irving missed the latter part of the Nets’ 2019-2020 season with a shoulder injury. In 2020-21, the Nets lost in the conference semifinals to Milwaukee. Irving missed home games in Brooklyn during the 2021-22 season because he refused, like thousands of others, to get vaccinated against COVID-19, violating New York City’s vaccine mandate. In the postseason against the young Celtics, Irving was swept for the first time in his career.
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Irving’s 2022-23 season in Brooklyn was a nightmare, and the last straw came when Irving posted on Twitter a movie link to a documentary considered by many to be anti-Semitic. That put Irving in the crosshairs of a fury that roasted and lashed out like never before. In November 2022, after refusing to “state unequivocally” that he did not harbor anti-Semitic beliefs, Irving was suspended.
Given how well Irving is being accepted now, it’s funny to think that at the time the so-called experts were saying that Irving was untradeable, that no NBA would touch him. But in February 2023, the Nets traded Irving to Dallas. The Mavericks didn’t make the playoffs, but Irving found an unlikely home and formed a partnership with Dončić and a mentor in Coach Kidd. At 51, with a Hall of Fame resume, Kidd became a mentor Irving could respect. Dončić was a young superstar. Irving, then 31 years old, could help win an NBA title.
After a season in which the two players got to know each other under Kidd, the Mavericks began making beautiful music.
Irving can look back on his time with Brown and Tatum with pride and perspective. After the Mavericks played the Celtics in Boston in March, Irving spoke to reporters about the two Celtics stars he helped advise.
“Seeing them grow only makes me proud,” he said. “When I met them, they were hungry young players who wanted to be stars as soon as they got into the league. That’s what separates them from many of the young people who have ever existed. They came into the league with that chip on their shoulders. “They have learned to accept that failure is part of the journey, that each season will be different and that the pieces around you, how you elevate them, are important.”
So, Irving returns to Boston trying to win a second championship while trying to stop Brown and Tatum from winning their first. It’s almost a Lazarus moment because Irving’s career seemed dead. He now returns very respected, mature and playing the most complete basketball of his career.
Seven years after leaving Boston, most of the burned bridges have been repaired. Even in Irving’s world, the circle of life is not flat.
William C. Rhoden, former award-winning New York Times sports columnist and author of Forty Million Dollar Slaves, is a regular writer for Andscape.
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