Examining the unanswered questions around Kyrie Irving's absence from Nets

Kyrie Irving is expected to be back on the court for the first time in two weeks when the Nets play in Cleveland on Wednesday.

During Irving’s absence, there’s been plenty of speculation about why he left the team and whether the team finds the reasons for his departure adequate (more on that below).

Irving spoke to his teammates and, presumably, his coaches on Tuesday about the matter.

He then talked to reporters. In his 12-minute chat, Irving talked about needing ‘a break’ and the importance of finding balance, but he didn’t say specifically why he was away for five games.

“Just a lot of family and personal stuff going on. So, just want to leave it at that,” he said.

When asked later about his communication with the team while he was away and whether he knew he’d violated NBA COVID protocols, Irving said, “Happy to be back, happy to be around these guys. Addressed the team, addressed everybody that needed to be addressed. Now it's time to move on.”

Over the course of the rest of his media session, Irving apologized to Nets fans and said he held himself accountable during talks with his teammates about his absence.

“I just take full accountability for my actions with the guys and just had a conversation with each one of them and we move on,” he said.

He spoke about the responsibility he feels to continue to serve his community and the weight of current events in the country (something Irving does with remarkable resources, time and energy) and the weight of current events in the country. Irving also said he ‘called for help’, presumably amid that struggle to find balance.

But that’s just an assumption on my part. Irving didn’t say, directly, why he chose to leave the team. And he’s well within his right to not offer a specific explanation. He doesn’t owe anyone an explanation about a private matter. But the Nets had said several times over the past two weeks that Irving would address his absence when he returned. So it seemed like there may have been a bit of a disconnect there.

(As an aside, I’m not going to try to guess as to why Irving left the club prior to their Jan. 7 game against the Sixers. Various reports have stated that he was upset over the riots at the Capitol Building on Jan. 6. However, those familiar with Irving’s thinking said that the news that the Kenosha police officer who shot Jacob Blake won't be facing any criminal charges factored into his absence. That event, more so than the riots at the Capitol Building, contributed to Irving being away from the club, those people say.)

Whether you think Irving owes Nets fans an explanation about his absence is a matter of perspective.

A quick scroll of social media shows that different Nets fans/observers will have different opinions about the games Irving missed (two of which were due to conditioning issues following his five-game leave) and his violation of the NBA’s health and safety protocols.

Fans’ opinions matter because they are the customers, the ones that make the league as relevant as it is. So I don’t think their opinions should be summarily dismissed. But what really matters here is whether anyone with the Nets – from owner Joe Tsai on down – has an issue with the way Irving’s absence was handled.

Even before the video of Irving at a family party emerged last Monday, there was frustration among some with the club over the way things with Irving played out.

If you listened to the public comments made by head coach Steve Nash and GM Sean Marks, it’s logical to conclude that Brooklyn wasn’t happy about Irving’s absence.

Marks released a statement that didn’t include a reference to the club supporting Irving, which is something you usually see from teams in these instances.

A few days later, after the club traded for James Harden, Marks was asked if the organization was OK with Irving’s absence.

“You asked if it’s OK that people miss time - I think it’s been well documented that if there is reasonable excuses for their absence, we have got to support – whether it’s our players or whether it’s our staff – (those employees),” Marks said. “And you would do that in any industry. You would also hope that there is an adequate – more than adequate – excuse as to why he needs personal time. And he will address that without a doubt.”

Now, maybe there was another reason that the club didn’t want to say explicitly that it supported Irving’s absence. But the omission was jarring, to say the least.

Nash was asked on Tuesday if he had to ‘re-hash’ anything with Irving.

“I’m going to leave that in-house,” the coach said. “Like I said, Ky has addressed the team and he’s happy to be back, and I think everyone welcomed him back. So, it was a positive outcome today.”

With Irving back, the discussion around the Nets will return to the court and how he, Kevin Durant and Harden fit together (Irving’s godfather, Rod Strickland, doesn’t see it as an issue – at all).

We should see them for the first time on Wednesday in Cleveland. The conversation publicly will probably shift then to whether Irving or Harden can thrive off the ball. And just how good the Nets offense can be. Or the dynamic between Nash, Irving, Durant and Harden.

Assuming things go well in Brooklyn, the discourse around Irving’s absence will probably die down. And as long as the organization accepts the reasons behind Irving’s absence, it will be water under the bridge. But if the Nets stumble – or if Irving/Harden/Durant have fit issues – the microscope will probably be on Irving again.

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.”