Dallas Mavericks point guard Kyrie Irving spent two seasons with the Boston Celtics earlier in his career. He led the team to the playoffs as the main man, but was unable to bring home any titles.
Current Celtics star Jaylen Brown was Irving’s teammate for both of those seasons, and he recently spoke a bit about what their relationship as teammates was like. It seems the two clashed pretty often.
According to Logan Murdock of The Ringer, Irving would “lash out” whenever Brown, Jayson Tatum or Terry Rozier would make mistakes. Brown would apparently push back.
“Me and Kyrie didn’t really see eye to eye when we was here,” Brown told Murdock. “Really at all.”
Irving joined the Celtics in hopes of leading his own team to an NBA title. By the time he joined Boston, he had already won one, but that title was won alongside LeBron James.
The Duke University product now recognizes that maybe his approach toward Brown wasn’t the best.
“Sometimes — and I could say this for myself — sometimes our individual goals are before the team goals, and he had to adjust,” Irving said. “You think about our team. I want you to really look back at our team that we had and see how talented we were. And we had a lockup in every position. It was two, three guys in every position. So it was not only competitive with me and J.B., but it was competitive amongst all of us. And that wasn’t the best recipe for team success if you’re competing with your brothers every day.”
The eight-time All-Star eventually left Boston after the 2018-19 season for the Brooklyn Nets, who dealt Irving to the Mavericks earlier this season. He’s still one of the best point guards in the league, but he continues to make headlines off the court as well. The former No. 1 overall pick will become an unrestricted free agent this offseason, so it will be interesting to see where he lands.
The Mavericks are just 8-10 since acquiring Irving. If the season were to end today, they’d be in the play-in tournament at 36-36.
As for Brown and the Celtics, they’re currently 49-23 and in second place in the Eastern Conference. They’ve already clinched a playoff spot and look like one of the strongest contenders in the league.
Boston and Dallas have already faced off twice in the regular season, so any other matchups this season would have to come in the NBA Finals. That would undoubtedly be a very entertaining series.
