Kyrie Irving, never one to retreat from controversy, recently took to a live stream to offer his side of the Brooklyn Nets’ short-lived superteam saga. In a candid back-and-forth sparked by Kevin Durant’s appearance on the “Mind the Game” podcast, Irving described both the surreal internal dynamics and organizational missteps that defined his time in Brooklyn.

Irving confessed to being blindsided by the rapid changes around him—citing, in particular, the unexpected departure of assistant coach Ime Udoka, which he said undermined team cohesion and strategy.

“Ime Udoka literally went to Boston after coaching with us. That was crazy,” Irving recalled. Such abrupt shifts contributed to the Nets’ spectacular unraveling, epitomized by their 2022 playoff sweep at the hands of Udoka’s Celtics.

Durant, Harden, and a Team “Never Truly United”

While Kevin Durant pinpointed injuries and distractions as fatal blows during his podcast interview, Irving went deeper, suggesting the team’s demise began well before things unraveled on the court.

“The turmoil in Brooklyn started long before this season—it began after the first year of me and KD’s tenure,” Irving explained, referencing behind-the-scenes friction and organizational uncertainty.

One of Irving’s main revelations: he felt like a package deal, apparently wanted only to help land Durant in Brooklyn. “The Nets didn’t want me like that. They wanted KD,” Irving shared, voicing regret that he hadn’t done more due diligence before joining. He recounted how he didn’t even meet the Nets’ top brass before signing, acting primarily out of loyalty to Durant, who was then recovering from a torn Achilles.

The team’s high-wattage lineup grew even shakier once James Harden arrived—and departed. Irving revealed that Harden’s sudden trade demand shocked him and symbolized the era’s instability, with players, coaches, and staff cycling in and out so rapidly that real cohesion became impossible.

Fallout and Fresh Perspectives

Despite the much-hyped assemblage of talent, Brooklyn’s superteam managed only a single playoff series win and remains enshrined as one of the league’s biggest “what-ifs.” Both Irving and Durant, now plying their trade elsewhere, stress there’s no bad blood between them despite the failed partnership.

Rather, Irving frames Brooklyn’s saga as a cautionary tale of business, misalignment, and missed opportunity—one he now seems much more willing to dissect in public than ever before.

As the NBA moves past the Nets’ grand experiment, Irving’s raw commentary leaves no doubt that the presumed chemistry behind headline-grabbing rosters can mask complex realities—and sometimes, it takes years for the truth to surface.