Mavs' Kyrie Irving 'Excited' to Play at Barclays Center Again After Nets Trade
BROOKLYN — The Dallas Mavericks will complete the second night of a back-to-back when they take on the Brooklyn Nets on Tuesday. Kyrie Irving made his return from a six-game injury absence when facing the Philadelphia 76ers on Monday, recording #
Irving will play his first game in Brooklyn since he finished with 26 points, seven rebounds, and six assists against the Los Angeles Lakers on January 30, 2023. He was later traded to the Mavs in exchange for Spencer Dinwiddie, Dorian Finney-Smith, a 2029 first-round pick, and multiple second-round picks.
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After the Mavs' 118-102 victory over the Sixers, Irving was asked if he had played against the Nets on the road "circled" on his calendar. As he stated earlier this season when facing his former team in Dallas on October 27, he doesn't understand the desire to make it a big deal.
"I don't know if it's just a fan thing or media thing or just — like asking us the questions with how we feel going back to our former teams," Irving said. "We're one big conglomerate. It's one league. Obviously, there's some history there with certain teams. There's a competitive edge that you have going into each game when you play against your former team. It's not uncommon.
"It's been happening for years in the league, and guys played at other teams," Irving continued. "But I was just saying that to say, let's just normalize the emotions that go into those games playing to form a team instead of making it such a big deal."
As someone who grew up in the region, Irving will look forward to playing in New York again, but that would have been the case whether he's facing his former team. He mentioned being excited to play back at Barclays Center again, but beyond that, it's just another game to him.
"Excitement? Yeah. Excitement because I get to play back in Barclays," Irving said. "But outside of that, there's nothing deeper to look into, and I think we need to do a better job of that by not making it something else other than sports."
Irving explained to the reporter the way it gets made into a spectacle when playing against a former team in their arena for the first time gets turned into a conversation about factors that don't matter. For example, will fans boo him?
"I'm not saying you're doing it, but I feel like the environment is created like, 'What happens if you get booed there? What happens if you do that?' We just ask the follow-up questions, and I just think we just need to normalize this basketball," Irving said. "Fans are going to be fans. Some people are going to love you. Some people will not like that you left, but it's all part of our overall conglomerate as a league. That's what makes it exciting. The fan support and just staying poised to the chaos."
A prime example of Irving's point is when his former teammate Kevin Durant was set to play against the Nets back at Barclays Center for the first time. There was a fixation on whether Durant would receive a tribute video after saying he didn't feel it was necessary, considering they hadn't accomplished their goals.
