Here are a few other notes from Irving’s availability on Tuesday:

Irving was asked what he wants fans – or people who see him as something greater than a basketball player – to take from his absence:

“Well, as you can see, there’s a deeper level of emotions that I have for helping and serving people around the world. And I’ve done it since I was a kid. I’ll continue on way after basketball. Basketball has given enough, might I say perspective and attention on some of the things I’ve been into, and now that my life has changed, with that change comes accepting that there are older versions of me that I didn’t necessarily like or things that I would like to do different or conversations I would like to have with different people to address man to man talk or man to woman talk or just honest talk. And we all deserve that. There’s nothing normal about this life that I live. It’s just something I’ve come to accept and embrace as, let me use this as a tool to be able to change things that I want to see in the world, and I have to be honest with myself about how much energy I give that and how many others I’m impacting, so when I remove myself from something you can definitely feel the weight and the absence definitely means something, and I’m aware of that. Like I said, I take full accountability, and to those who are leading with me and also following alongside, walking alongside, we’re gonna get through this. This world is a wacky place at times, but as long as we persevere together, and as long as we continue to just tell each other the truth about how we feel about each other. That’s a big thing. I just want honesty, and in order to be honest, I’ve got to be honest with myself, and that’s the first thing. I know I can talk in circles, and I know all these words get used, but I’m just being honest here. It’s been a lot to balance, and now it’s, I called for help, and now I have just so many mentors and so many people reaching out and just taking things off my plate that were never mine in the first place and they are better-suited for that position, so I’ll play my role in this big team of change in the world, and others will do the same.”

Irving was asked about separating his job from the things happening off the court. His answer suggests that he struggled to separate those things recently:

“If you don’t create that distinction, then it’s easy to feel the weight of the world while you’re going out there and playing. So, I’d be lying sitting here and saying I don’t feel what’s going on in the world, nor am I paying attention to it. I just have a huge responsibility, I feel, to continue to serve my community and the underserved. And when I’m out here playing, its continuing to leave knowledge with these guys and commit to something, like I always say, bigger than ourselves. This team environment here – or just basketball in general. It takes sacrifice and compromise. You know, we got to come to an agreement to just stay balanced throughout this long journey. That’s all I am trying to do.”

Irving was asked what he’d tell fans who were frustrated by his absence:

“The fans out there, I want to apologize them as well. My commitment has always to bringing something special to Brooklyn. It wasn’t just a championship. It was unity, equality, just bigger things than just the game itself. It took quite a while and quite a few valleys to get back home, initially. So for me, I’m just taking every day, just being grateful. But for the casual, or the fanatic, it’s part of our culture. And I’m back, I’m happy to be back. And we got some great pieces and we just move on and I let my actions and my game speak for itself like I planned on doing. Just needed a pause.”

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