DALLAS – Kyrie Irving will face the Nets for the first time since last season’s trade demand shook the franchise and slammed shut their championship window.
The awkward meeting will take place Friday at American Airlines Center, with the Mavericks guard saying that Brooklyn disrespected him and the New York media inflamed it.
“I was never on bad terms with the organization; I just think there was a lot of chaos and noise as usual from the media,” Irving said. “I’m not going to blame you guys or anything; but nobody really knew what was going on behind the scenes. I’m sure that people have their sources they go to (about) what was going on and what really happened.
“But for me, it was the best decision of my career to ask for a trade. I knew I needed peace of mind. It was rough all the way around. After COVID and after the situations that took place there, there were circumstances that were either in my control or the out of my control. And I didn’t want to play the blame game.”
But Irving didn’t want to play games for the Nets, either.
After taking multiple leaves of absences in the 2020-21 season, he missed about two-thirds of the next season due to his refusal to adhere to New York’s COVID-19 vaccine mandates.
Then last season he got chastised by Nets owner Joe Tsai and suspended for promoting an antisemitic film and refusing to apologize.
“I had a media interview and I said there was some disrespectful things going on behind the scenes — and that happens in every organization as an employee, so it’s not out of the ordinary to come out and communicate that — but again, when it’s me, it’s a fire-starter,” Irving said. “Everyone loves to use my name to build up whatever credibility they need. And at the end of the day, I don’t have a problem with that.
“I think my criticism is fair, as long as you keep it on the court and judge me off the success of our team and don’t try to dig too deep into who I am as a person, because I don’t show who I am as a person in this business, because it’s always constant, constant, constant eyewitness views, just random things that I don’t agree that’s being written about me.”
Irving helped recruit first Kevin Durant and then James Harden to Brooklyn, averaged 27.1 points and 5.8 assists in 143 games for the Nets.
But Harden tired of Irving, and then the latter tired of the team.
Once Tsai and GM Sean Marks sought to limit their risk in the next contract offer to Irving, the All-Star demanded a trade in February.
That led to Durant’s departure as well.
When pointed out how differently Texas handled COVID, Irving said “Brooklyn should have just released me, and it would’ve made things a lot easier on everybody. But, but 20/20 hindsight.”
Now the Nets are in a rebuild, partly based on players (Spencer Dinwiddie, Dorian Finney-Smith) and picks brought back for Irving.
“I would say I’m excited,” Tsai told The Post of this season. “I’m excited about the season because we have a group of guys that are excited to be in Brooklyn. Yeah, that’s what I see now.”