 move forward. And now we will hear from Kyrie Irving at the podium. Hey Kyrie. Considering everything that's going on this offseason. Kevin was just up here. Obviously we get a timeline. I could give a healthy timeline just so we don't miss anything here just so we can get everything out right now. So when we start the season all this could be behind us. So can we go through a timeline to somebody want to interject here? Do you want to take your crack at it? Respectfully. Sure. When I say from the offseason I'm saying from the point where you guys got swept to obviously you're having your contract negotiations which at least from the outside looked like they might have been contentious at points to deciding okay I'm just gonna opt into the one year. And then KD obviously saying well I want to be traded. KD was just saying up here that his reasoning was that he didn't like the way the culture was going. You guys were not being held accountable. In your mind, A, do you agree with that in terms of the culture not being what it should have been last year and in your particular case just individually with you are you confident that you're gonna be here long-term and that you can come to a contract agreement to be here for more than just this year? Yeah well I honor all that you know when I say I honor it it's just all those events taking place. I mean it was a lot just on my shoulders just going back home knowing that we got swept the way we did and be honest with you was probably the first time or one of the you know only times in my career where I felt embarrassed leaving the court and there's been a trend that's happened over the last few years especially when I think about my playoffs and thinking about how I've performed in them and I went back and watched a lot of film and I had a lot of reflection time and just gave me peace of mind knowing that there was something more to strive for coming into this next season there was something you know different that we were going to bring this year in this locker room and it was easy to make that decision to come back because I knew I wasn't willing to give up on something that I hadn't seen all the way through and not perfect in terms of the way I handle situations and relationships that go on only not only in this building but in my life so I won't claim to have everything figured out but I definitely use this summer to maximize on getting to know the people around me people that I'm going to be not only working with but on this journey with and give them support in a way where I knew that they were they knew they can hold me accountable and I can hold them accountable so just meeting them where they are and it was just a lot like here in Kev wanted trade request I opt in it's awkward it's very awkward I'm sitting at home like I don't know to think of it but because there's a trust that we have within each other I just ultimately want to see him do well and be happy so if that wasn't with it within our organization I was gonna have to accept that move on and I knew that I could move on and get to a place where I knew Kev could be comfortable and everybody could be comfortable Sean Joe just our whole entire family and culture in which we speak on I think it needed you know some honest conversations and that's what we did this summer and that's what we had so to reflect on I hope I answered a little bit of it you know there's a big timeline a lot of days in the summer where the offseason has taken its own emotions and courses and you know thoughts on what's going to happen so I tried to just center in on what I want to accomplish and that was just focusing on being the best teammate I can be and being on a great team and what that means to me and really embodying that action every single day and not just saying it so I don't want to get too wordy or too preachy up here but I had a lot of time to think in making the decision to come back to Brooklyn was the best one for me best one for me to fit in here and just figure it out along the way as we as we get this party started hey Kyrie touch on this a little bit but if you can kind of speak to Kevin's trade request and were you surprised by it given how close you two are I mean did you stay out of it when it was going on that you try to recruit him back to Brooklyn and you know did you see some of the validity obviously in in his complaints about it or what made it what it would be to mask when you say recruit what do you mean like did I recruit him back or yeah to make him rescind the trade request yeah it was it was on Kev from the beginning and I honored his request and I understood it there was a level uncertainty in this building not just for last year but for the last few years and that accountability that he asked for should be available and accessible at all times and we should have that type of environment so I echoed his same sentiments and I felt the same way but we both knew we I don't want to say we both know I won't speak for him I just felt like the awkwardness I say you know we speak on when he asked for it just it's just one of those shocking things you know you have as a best friend and you're watching your best friend go through now the other side of the media storm that comes with this trade request and being in the middle of you know it's kind of like a cluster you know I mean just like all of this you know all the stories that we we've come up with all the narratives around this team that it's hard to answer every single question you guys have about us and what our intent is so I'll do my best to just say that you know I honored what Kev had going on and I was wishing him the best but this was the best opportunity for him and that's the best opportunity for me and we feel good and it's not just about us it's about how great we are as teammates in our team just great team and that's all I'm gonna keep saying hey Kyrie this time last year it seemed like sort of a matter of time until you got the extension that didn't happen is that like do you say okay I'm gonna get it I'll have a good year they're gonna pay me or is there any like doubt in your mind that maybe it's not gonna happen here we had some internal conversations at the end of the season and we started to have some that I felt were going in the right direction but it just didn't end up well going into free agency and what that looked like for the long term and I understood all the net's points and I respected it and I honored it and I didn't appreciate how me being unvaccinated all of a sudden came to be a stigma within my career that I don't want to play or I'm willing to give up everything to be a voice for the voiceless and which I will stand on here and say that that wasn't the only intent that I had was to be in a voice of the voiceless it was to stand on something that was gonna be bigger than myself and then I was gonna understand probably far into the future you know I don't I don't know when but I'll get back to my point and saying that there was a level of uncertainty of what this was gonna look like of me coming back and I had questions they were answered truthfully and that's all I needed and now it's just having the support around me and giving the support to my teammates and we go from there I gave up four years a hundred something million deciding to be unvaccinated and that was the decision because contract give vaccinated or be unvaccinated and there's a level of uncertainty of your future whether you're gonna be in this league whether you're gonna be on this team so I had to deal with that real life circumstance of losing my job for this decision so I was dealing with all of those emotions while trying to secure my future my future for my family ultimately so it's a lot of decisions that had to be made but a lot of truthful conversations that gave me peace of mind to come back and really just be all in. Kyrie right here in the middle you said you've used this summer to get to know people you may be taking this journey with what have you learned from Ben Simmons and how do you think that his style fits with this team it's not too often that you get a chance to see a six-ten guy do the things that he does and we can talk about the intangibles we can talk about all the strengths but I think what I've been able to observe just from afar as a competitor you know for the past few years but now as a teammate it's just his resolve and his resiliency he wants it whatever greatness looks like for him he wants it and when you're around other great people and you're in a great environment where you can be supported when you when you're going through your ups and your downs I think that that can help ease the journey and that's ultimately what I would like to play within this position in this this role on our team is alongside all our guys just being a level of guidance for him and being able to protect him when needed but also knowing that he's a he's a big boy he can handle it and he doesn't shy away from the moment and I like that and I've seen it since he was in high school we've had a connection of playing for the same high school coach with Kevin Boyle so we know what it's like to get yelled at and get mother aft all the time and championship championship championships and being held accountable to a higher level and that's the best environment to be in because it brings the best out of you so I just want to see him bring the best out of himself and we have to help my teammates do that. Hey Kyrie just for clarity from your previous comments was it as far as your talks with the Nets was it get the extension and be vaccinated or play this out and be unvaccinated and deal with the rest you know in the back end and secondly when Katie was talking about accountability and culture I'm assuming you had those conversations with people individually how did that hit you when he said that. Well I sit and listen and I'm a student because he's been through a lot and he has experience so I just honored his wisdom and what he had to offer and he's seen championship runs he's been a part of them one sum and lost some and I just want a whole space to be able to listen and offer advice where I can and just be held accountable to where he feels comfortable at that level so we can match each other so just meeting each other where we are and those conversations that we had and he had with others I'm sure really stem from the foundation of just wanting the best and not just for himself but for others as well and he's a selfless person so always expect him to do the right thing and hold everybody accountable and do it in a positive way and sometimes it's not gonna look pretty and that's okay we accept them for years just like I accept everyone here for who they are so we meet them halfway there and then your first question sorry but not good what your contract talks with the next okay yeah we we were supposed to have all that figured out before training camp last year and it just didn't happen because of the status of me being vaccinated or vaccinated so I understood their point and I just had to live with it and it was a tough pill to swallow man honestly tough two questions with regard to the contract there were a lot of reports early in the summer then that you might you know go somewhere in a sign-in trade you might sign for the minimum or space or whatever somewhere was there ever a moment where you thought you actually were on the verge of leaving and then just more of a big picture question nobody doubts the talent obviously on this roster with you Katie and Ben Simmons but Ben hasn't played in a year and a half the three of you have never played together you guys must even have some questions yourself about what this eventually looks like so the contract and then just what you think this team actually could be with all of this presumably behind you guys it's gonna be hard to play the hypothetical game with you guys you guys are the best at it so it's gonna be a long journey just ahead of us because there is there are those obstacles with health and questions on health and honestly the most healthy team wins every single year majority of the time and we we want to be in that race and in order to be healthy it can't just be physically has to be mentally has to be emotionally and we have to have some synergy as a team where we understand our highs and lows strengths and weaknesses and we go from there but the sky's the limit I don't want to say that as a cliche but it really is because we don't know what this team is going to paint on this canvas this year as of yet but we have the drive we have the motivation we're saying all the right things and now it's just to act on it and do it in a way where it reflects a great brand that we can be proud of and we can stick to every single night so that game plan starts with our coaching coaches holding us accountable to level allowing Steve to be who he is allowing allowing our coaches to be who they are allowing our player coach to do what they do management looking for great opportunities and ultimately us as players is putting on a show every night where the wind column is reflective of how well we are connected as a team on both ends of the floor and playing complete games and yeah and in the first comment it was just about were you ever close to something else somewhere else were you close to being gone yeah yeah there were options but not many I tell you that because again this this stigma if whether or not I want to play whether or not I'm going to be committed to the team which I thought was really unfair at times but also the timing was ideal to be able to put that on me because I wasn't available so now that I'm here and actually present at media day and not on a zoom call and I can take pictures and be with my teammates and connect to everybody it feels even better so it's exciting time to you know be in this environment and being able to move past what we did last year in the years prior as year four for me in my home state you know my home region so I'm I take that very serious and I'm very prideful about the example I set for this next generation as I handle these next chapters in my life they carry you talked about kind of being embarrassed a little bit after the end swept and then we also spoke about the accountability factor just how do those two things inform how you approach this season as I guess maybe any differently from any other season man I'd be lying to you if I told you it wasn't fuel to the fires it's definitely a lot of fuel to the fire but it wasn't just because we we got swept because it was Boston or any of the emotional ties to that it was it was because of how things collapsed towards the end of last season and it's a lot of details that I wasn't a part of that I missed and we just couldn't make up for time and now that we have a new page to turn with everyone healthy I just look forward to you know saving you know all these moments where I felt like there was levels of doubt of whether or not I was gonna play whether I was gonna be on the team teammates or anything like that any small doubts I don't want to have any doubts or any regrets just come in with an understanding that things are gonna be imperfect at times but handling it responsibly and communicating goes a long way so great lessons to be learned from those moments okay we first I just want to clarify one more time before we're gonna be best friends by the end of the year where they are me you think we're best friends right now but by the end of the year we're gonna be we're gonna be you gonna give me a hug you know be like look we had to do my job but I understand where you're coming from that I think that's a fair trade-off by the end of this year you can say that and somebody clip this up me and you gonna be here go ahead I'm sorry I don't mean it's erupt true detective season two me as far just to clarify one more time are you saying before last season the organization told you if you got the vaccine your extension would be there these were these were conversations and I don't I don't want to you again you you're perfect at this you just bring emotion situations how are you feeling and very investigative this investigative journalism you doing here whatever it needs to be on the day okay I honor that but on a serious note I was I felt like I was forced with an ultimatum of whether or not I had a contractor not whether or not I could be on the team or be around the team whether or not I was vaccinated so tough conversations again that were had and we both left out of there with respect and I understood where they were coming from as an organization Joe and representing the team and also he understood where I was coming from cause I was you know definitely put in that position where I had to make a decision and given all that happened last season this summer heading into this year why should people believe that this is going to work and you guys can get back to the level you want to be at and contend for a title this year yeah I I'm not focused on convincing people to believe in us I'm it's too much energy you know spent on that wasted energy trying to convince people on to believe on whether or not we can accomplish a championship this year just gonna let our actions lead talked enough it's just gonna let our actions lead and enjoy the actual process of crafting and getting past some of I'll say like the gray area within our our league you know it's it's it's very very human very transparent let's keep it that way and I feel like we can accomplish a lot but convincing you guys and you all I don't have the energy this year so I love you