After appearing in the last three NBA Finals and winning a championship, Kyrie Irving shocked the entire basketball community when news leaked that he wanted out of Cleveland.
A lot of the NBA offseason was spent talking about where Irving would end up for the 2017-18 season, and after about a month of speculation it finally went down as he was dealt to the Boston Celtics in exchange for Isaiah Thomas, Jae Crowder, Ante Zizic and the rights to the Brooklyn Nets’ 2018 first-round pick.
Days after the NBA Finals wrapped up, news broke that the Phoenix Suns were going to make a serious push for the 2011 first overall draft pick and the future wasn’t looking as bright as it would have if he was on the Cavs. As a result of the news, Irving reached out to Kobe Bryant to get some advice on his NBA future. Here’s what was said, as told to and by The Washington Post’s Tim Bontemps.
“He was one of the guys that I reached out to,” Irving said after a recent practice here. “Not necessarily to gauge his thoughts on the decision, or to give me the okay, but it was for some clarity and also what the next steps going forward [would be].
“Because there was some chance I was going to maybe be in Phoenix, or maybe in situations where the environment hadn’t been winning for a while, and Kobe dealt with that in 2005-06, and that was tough. So I had to ask him, and gauge him about that.
“But after the fact, after everything happened, he was just super proud, and super happy.”
It never hurts to get advice from a living legend, but Irving had a very good reason as to why he turned to Bryant.
“Despite what was going on from the outside influences and what everyone else felt was best for him, [Bryant] always did what was best for his career for himself,” Irving said. “He figured it out. At times throughout a professional career you’re going to be tested, and there are times where you’re going try to appease the media, you try to appease your teammates, you try to appease the coaching staff, whoever, whatever situation you are in, you try to kind of blend in.
“The best thing I learned from him is you don’t necessarily have to blend in. You can stand out.”
It all ended up working out well for Irving as he currently has the Boston Celtics atop the Eastern Conference standings with a 37-15 record.
(H/T The Washington Post, For The Win)
