CLEVELAND – So many people want Kyrie Irving to be something he’s not. They want him to be more like Mike Conley, or Chris Paul, or even Stephen Curry. Some of that is by his own design. Irving’s most noteworthy off-court contribution is him dressed up like another person, covered in makeup and aged by about 50 years. It’s no surprise Irving has as much fun as he does shooting those commercials and videos. As Uncle Drew, Irving can hide and play another role. He can take a short break from being Kyrie Irving and all that goes into it.
Elite athletes have a habit of acting like they’re above criticism and don’t pay attention to the news cycle. (Well, except for guys like Draymond Green who read everything and are fueled off that.) Kyrie falls in that former camp. He takes after the player often sitting to his right in the postgame podium, LeBron James, who would seemingly rather confess to a murder than admit that he reads or listens to anything anyone says about him. So Irving will say all the right things in an interview, and simply shrug off the headlines or the growing consternation. That doesn’t mean he isn’t listening, or isn’t reading.
This is a 24-year-old we’re talking about. His public identity isn’t controlled by himself anymore, just as our identities aren’t controlled by ourselves. Sure, we’re people. And we are who we are, and those close to us know us for more than an image, an avatar, or a handle. But it’s impossible to control the narrative once it gets away. Get caught expressing emotion at a sporting event, and you’re a meme. Wind up in a viral video, and you’re Chewbacca Mom.
For Kyrie Irving, more of the attention is drawn to who – or what – he isn’t. He’s not a set of ideals, beliefs, experiences, and emotions. He’s No. 2, Point Guard for the Cleveland Cavaliers. With that comes a shoe deal, a max contract, endorsements, and the opportunity to play with one of the best players of all time. With that also comes a loss of agency – it gets harder and harder for Kyrie Irving to be what Kyrie Irving wants Kyrie Irving to be. Other people have the say. They control the story.
When things go bad, as they did in the first two games of the NBA Finals, that story became one of how the former No. 1 pick was flawed, and couldn’t get it done, and maybe didn’t belong playing next to LeBron James.
Irving did what so many of us need to do in our lives. He took control for himself. He took back the power that is one’s own name. And he put on a show. Sure, it was only one game in the NBA Finals. But it was so much more than that for a player who is still in the process of defining who he really is.
“You spend two or three days listening to everybody say things about you that don’t feel that good,” Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said after the Cavs’ 120-90 win in Game 3, “usually you bounce back.”
Irving didn’t just bounce back, he Super Mario double-jumped right out of the level. He was sensational from the get-go, scoring two of the first three Cleveland buckets, staying active defensively, and getting other guys involved. When the first quarter was over, he had 16 points, and the Cavs had a 17-point lead. He finished with 30 points and eight assists, and looked more confident than he’s looked at any time during these Finals.
James, who knows a little something about expectations, was as fired up as anyone. After the Warriors took a timeout just two and a half minutes into the game, he turned and faced the home crowd, gave a scream, and fist pumped. Sure, some of it was in response to the early run by the Cavaliers and the hot start, but a lot of that energy had to have come from seeing an aggressive and engaged Irving.
“I didn’t change my approach and I didn’t take over this game,” James said afterward. “Kyrie pretty much took over the game.”
As much as anyone else, James has his own ideas of what – and who – Irving should be on the Cavaliers. James has a funny way of motivating people, and he tries various tactics in order to get his message across. He’ll be extra supportive, as he was in the early rounds of the playoffs. He’ll be cold, as he was earlier this season. And he’ll be cryptic, as evidenced by whatever the heck that social media gambit was when he referenced The Da Vinci Code. James is smart, and he knows he won’t get through to every young player doing the exact same thing.
At times, the future Hall of Famer has stood in the corner during games waiting for Irving to wake up, and letting the young guard struggle. Other times James has built Irving up by sitting feet away and heaping praise when it’s necessary. James doesn’t seem to want to reenact that scene from Ghost and form a clay Irving himself. Rather, LeBron is gently pushing Kyrie to become a fully actualized Kyrie.
When LeBron returned to Cleveland in the first place, in his letter written with Sports Illustrated‘s Lee Jenkins, he mentioned the time it would take to build a champion.
“It will be a long process,” James said, “much longer than it was in 2010. My patience will get tested. I know that. I’m going into a situation with a young team and a new coach. I will be the old head.”
James is being tested, and it’s got to take everything in his power not to change that approach and to default back to taking over. He did it when necessary in the Finals last year, winning two games single-handedly after injuries ravaged the Cavaliers. But that’s not his default setting, and it won’t help the Cavs grow – individually or as a unit – for the future. That’s why he’s letting Irving sink or swim on his own.
The point guard has to figure it out for himself. If it takes LeBron kicking Irving out of the house, taking away dad’s credit card, forcing him to work retail or in a restaurant until he discovers what he wants to do in life, and ultimately resenting him at times and forcing him to complain to all his friends about how unfair things are, then so be it. LeBron isn’t helping Kyrie if he’s carrying Kyrie. Irving has to do that on his own.
“I know that I can’t play in between or be indecisive especially with guys in front of me,” Irving said after Game 3. “Just constantly in attack mode. I know my teammates consistently want me to do that, possession by possession, whether it’s getting downhill or shooting jump shots or whatever it is.”
In a lot of ways, LeBron is Uncle Drew, and he’s trying to pass that off onto Irving. Just like parenting (and LeBron’s been called “father” by the Cavs at times), every move he makes won’t be perfect, but James is trying to lay the foundation for the future. It’s easy to lose sight of that when LeBron’s Finals record is continually mentioned, and the gravity of bringing a title to Cleveland is never far from anyone’s mind. Not to mention the challenge of facing off against arguably the best team of all time.
Irving will never be what some people want him to be, but when he’s the player he wants to be, that player is still pretty special. Sometimes all it takes is an old head to push Uncle Drew in the right direction.
