Kyrie Irving explained his absence after officially returning to the team.
Brooklyn Nets superstar Kyrie Irving has officially ended his sabbatical, as he chose to return to a team that is fresh off a pulse-pounding victory over the Milwaukee Bucks spearheaded by the dynamic duo of Kevin Durant and the newly-acquired James Harden.
Irving, who was partaking in some political activism and some maskless parties on his time away from the team, returned to the Nets Tuesday, ascribing his absence to “a lot of family and personal stuff.”
Irving also made mention of the support he received from the organization and teammates.
Kyrie says during his absence he had "a lot of family and personal stuff going on, so just wanna leave it at that.”
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) January 19, 2021
(via @SNYtv)pic.twitter.com/8a1rfzygvi
Kyrie Irving appears ready to team up with Kevin Durant and James Harden.
Irving, who will make his return against a Cleveland Cavaliers team that acquired former Net teammates Jarrett Allen and Taurean Prince in the Harden deal, was averaging 27.1 points before he took his leave. There is a good chance those numbers go down while he plays alongside Harden.
Irving realized that fans of the Nets, rightly or wrongly, were a bit perturbed with the suddenness of his departure.
Irving, who has marketed himself as a homegrown superstar given how he grew up a Nets fan in northern New Jersey, knows that fans want to see one of the game’s best players back out on the floor, apologizing to fans by saying he is “happy to be back” while talking up the fact he will be playing alongside two superstars in Durant and Harden.
Kyrie Irving apologizes to fans he disappointed by not playing. "I am back, I am happy to be back, we got some great pieces and we move on and I let my actions and my game speak for itself like I planned on doing. I just needed a pause."
— Malika Andrews (@malika_andrews) January 19, 2021
It’s irresponsible to call Irving, who has shown he is an extremely philanthropic individual, a “bad guy” or poor teammate, but his absence had to be somewhat disappointing for the Nets.
Now that the Nets will be at full strength and have all three of their transcendent scorers on the floor at one time, Brooklyn’s championship push with Irving in tow can get properly kicked off.
Nets: 3 highest single-game scoring performances in team history
With Irving, Harden, and Durant capable of scoring 50 points they could rewrite the Nets' record books by shattering the previous marks for most points