QUICK FACTS

• Name: Kyrie Irving

• Birth Year: 1992
• Birth date: March 23, 1992
• Birth City: Melbourne
• Birth Country: Australia
• Gender: Male
• Best Known For: Professional bas-
ketball All-Star Kyrie Irving helped the
Cleveland Cavaliers win their first NBA
championship before moving on to play
for the Boston Celtics and the Brooklyn
Nets.
• Astrological Sign: Aires
• Schools
• Duke University
• Interesting Facts
• Kyrie Irving holds dual U.S. and Aus-
tralian citizenship.

24 1
He was born in 1992
in Melbourne, Aus-
tralia, Kyrie Irving
became a high school
basketball star in
New Jersey before
briefly playing for
Duke University.

He was selected by the Cleveland Cava-

liers with the No. 1 pick in the 2011 NBA
Draft, and in 2016, he teamed with LeB-
ron James to give the Cavaliers their first
championship in franchise history. Along
with his dazzling scoring ability, Irving is
known for his “Uncle Drew” commercials
and his controversial comments about the
Earth being flat. After six years in Cleve-
land, Irving moved on to the Boston Celt-
ics in 2017 and then the Brooklyn Nets in
2019.

23
2
Having separated from the girl’s moth-
er, Andrea Wilson, he soon confirmed
he was dating R&B singer Kehlani,
though they split a few months later.
The NBA All-Star has contributed to
The Shared Grief Project, an organi-
zation that highlights the stories of
athletes who endured the loss of loved
ones, particularly at young ages, but
went on to enjoy successful lives.
22
Brooklyn Nets
At the beginning of the summer 2019
NBA free agency period, it was announced
that Irving had signed a four-year, $142
million deal to play for the New Jersey
Nets. With fellow top free agent Kev-
in Durant also on his way to Brooklyn,
though ruled out for the 2019-20 sea-
son as he recovered from a torn Achilles,
it was expected that the two All-Stars
would eventually transform the Nets into
one of the league’s premier teams.
Irving showed what all the fuss was about
when he dropped 50 points in an overtime
loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on
opening night, but he soon was sidelined
for a lengthy stretch due to a shoulder
injury.
He returned to deliver one of the
best games of his career in late Jan-
uary
3
2020, pouring in 54 points on 19-of-23
shooting, before getting injured again the
following day. In late February, it was an-
nounced that the star guard would under-
go season-ending surgery on his trouble-
some shoulder.
Personal
Prior to the start of the 2017-18 sea-
son, Irving joined the growing list of
NBA players who have turned to a veg-
an diet.
Irving became a father in November
2015 with the birth of daughter Azurie
Elizabeth, named after his mom.

4 21
After scoring 41 points to help Cleve-
Boston Celtics
land stave off elimination in Game 5, After six sea-
he delivered the winning three-pointer sons, four All-
in Game 7 to give the Cavaliers their Star appearanc-
first championship in franchise history. es and an NBA
In 2017, Irving and his teammates met championship as
the Warriors in the Finals for the third a member of the
Cleveland Cava-
straight year, but were overwhelmed
liers, Kyrie Irving
by Golden State’s high-scoring forward
embarked on the
Kevin Durant and lost in five games. next phase of his
career with the
Boston Celtics in
2017.
Things got off to a less-than-ideal start:
On October 17, five minutes into the sea-
son opener, fellow Celtics newcomer Gor-
don Hayward went down with a fractured
tibia. On November 11, Irving suffered a
minor facial fracture,and he returned to
action a few days later wearing a stifling
mask.

20 5
With Irving showcasing his clutch scor-
ing ability, along with a commitment to
playing energetic defense under coach
Brad Stevens, the Celtics became a fa-
vorite to win the NBA’s Eastern Con-
ference.
However, Irving underwent season-end-
ing knee surgery in late March 2018,
and the Celtics were defeated in the
conference finals by the Cavaliers.
While Irving was able to return for the
2017-18 NBA season opener, the Celt-
ics struggled to live up to the high ex-
pectations. Furthermore, Irving found
himself under scrutiny for publicly crit-
icizing his teammates and for seemingly
cooling to the idea of re-signing with
Celtics after the season, which end-
ed with a disappointing five-game loss
to the Milwaukee Bucks in the second
round of the NBA playoffs.
6 19
later he was voted the Rookie of the
Year.
He earned his first All-Star selection
in 2013, and the following year he was
named MVP of the game.
That summer, James announced he
was returning to Cleveland. With
sharp-shooting forward Kevin Love add-
ed to the mix, the Cavaliers were ex-
pected to contend for the NBA champi-
onship with their new “Big Three.” The
Cavaliers did indeed make a run at the
title, but Irving suffered a fractured
kneecap in Game 1 of the 2015 NBA Fi-
nals against the Golden State Warriors,
sidelining him for the remainder of the
series and well into the following sea-
son.
In 2016, the Cavs earned a Finals re-
match with the Warriors, and this time
Irving was ready to shine on the big
stage:
Stardom & Championship Kyrie Irving’s Stats
in Cleveland Nominally a point guard, the 6’3” Irving
With the Cavs reeling following the loss scores well more than the “pass first”-
of LeBron James to the Miami Heat type players who traditionally man the
in 2010, Irving proved one of the lone
bright spots in his early days with the
team. He was named MVP of the Rising
Stars Challenge during the 2012 NBA
All-Star Weekend, and a few months
With his daz-
zling dribbling
skills and abili-
ty to make ac-
robatic shots,
Irving soon
worked his way position. He averaged an impressive
into the con- 25.2 points per game during the 2016-
versation as 17 NBA season,
one of the top his six seasons with the Cavaliers. He
guards in the
league.

18 7
set a career high with 57 points in a win of the rare freshman point guards to
over the San Antonio Spurs in March start for legendary coach Mike Krzyze-
2015. wski. He showed what the fuss was
Irving averaged a middling 5.5 assists about with an electrifying 31-point per-
per game with the Cavaliers, though he formance against Michigan State in De-
produced a career-high 6.9 per game cember 2010, but suffered a foot injury
in that category during the 2018-19 a few days later that knocked him out
season, buoyed by a personal best 18 of action until the NCAA tournament in
assists vs. the Toronto Raptors in Jan- March.
uary. A few days later, he set another
personal mark with eight steals vs. the
Miami Heat.
An excellent free-throw shooter, Ir-
ving converted 87.3 percent of his at-
tempts with the Cavaliers. He made a
solid 38.3 percent of his attempts from
three-point range during those years,
including a career-best 41.5 percent in
2014-15.

8 17
 High School Star & Duke Trade from Cleveland to
University Boston
Although he had just appeared in his
Back in the U.S., Drederick Irving
third consecutive NBA Finals with
eventually settled in West Orange,
Cleveland teammate LeBron James, Ir-
New Jersey, bringing his young son
ving stunned fans by asking for a trade
along to his pickup basketball games.
in the summer of 2017.
Immersed in the sport, Kyrie Irving
The Cavaliers traded Irving to the
went on to star at nearby Montclair
Celtics for guard Isaiah Thomas, for-
Kimberley Academy, a private school
ward Jae Crowder, big man Ante Zizic
known more for academics than athlet-
and a first-round draft pick. A week
ics, before transferring to St. Patrick
later, after Cleveland expressed con-
High School in Elizabeth. Alongside fu-
cerns about Thomas’s health, the Celt-
ture NBA pro Michael Kidd-Gilchrist,
ics forked over another draft pick.
Irving led St. Patrick to the state
Irving’s reason for wanting out of a
championship as a junior and earned a
seemingly good situation in Cleveland
slew of accolades as a senior, including
eventually came to light: After ceding
selection to the McDonald’s All-Amer-
the limelight to James, unquestionably
ican team and Gatorade State High
one of the greatest players in NBA his-
School Player of the Year honors.
tory, the All-Star guard he had chance
At Duke University, Irving became one
t

16 9
 to lead his own team. Australian Roots &
He explained his
thinking to ESPN in International Competition
September: “As a
25-year-old evolving With Drederick starring locally at
man coming in to per- hoops, Kyrie Andrew Irving was born on
fect my craft every March 23, 1992, in Melbourne, Austra-
single day, I just want- lia. The future NBA great didn’t remain
ed to be in an environ- Down Under for long,
ment where I feel I moving to the United States with his
could be taught every dad and older sister, Asia, at around 2
single day, and have years old, but he did retain dual Austra-
that demand from lian-American citizenship.
the coaching staff, years later, Irving seriously considered
and have that demand playing for the Australian team in inter-
from the franchise national competition. He eventually came
that would propel me around for Team USA,
to exceeding my po- winning a gold medal (and MVP honors)
tential and seeing how with the Americans at the 2014 FIBA
far I can go.” Basketball World Cup, and another gold
at the 2016 Rio Olympics
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While at BU, Drederick met Elizabeth Irving’s Flat Earth Theory
Larson, a member of the volleyball team
and a classically trained pianist. They
In February 2017,
married and moved to Elizabeth’s home-
Irving raised eye-
town near Seattle, Washington, before
brows when he
relocating to Australia for Drederick’s
appeared on his
basketball career. Elizabeth unexpect-
teammates’ “Road
edly died at age 29 in 1996, after con-
Trippin’” podcast
tracting sepsis.
and argued that
the Earth is flat.

He insisted that the truth was evident,

but that powerful people were con-
trolling the flow of information to con-
vince the masses otherwise.
Irving’s comments went viral and in-
spired numerous opinion pieces that
questioned his sanity. Famed astrophys

14 11
icist Neil deGrasse Tyson even weighed in
on the issue: “We live in a free country, so
you ought to be able to think and say
whatever you want,” he told TMZ. “If
he wants to think the Earth is flat, go
right ahead—as long as he continues to
play basketball and not become head of
any space agencies.”
Irving eventually explained that the
comments were an “exploitation tac-
tic” to show how the media attempted
to demonize people who challenged the
status quo, and said he wanted people
to not blindly accept everything taught
to them.
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Mom & Dad
Before Kyrie came along, his dad, Dred-
erick Irving, was an impressive bas-
ketball player in his own right. An All-
City selection at Adlai Stevenson High
School in the Bronx, he went on a sto-
ried career at Boston University,
finishing as the school’s all-time leading
scorer in 1988.
Unable to realize his NBA hopes, he
played for Australia’s Bulleen Boomers
for a few years.
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