Kyrie Irving’s career is trending up and just turning 23 years old it looks like his best years are still ahead of him. Just this past year Irving has had a lot go in his favor. A big part of that is some guy named LeBron returning home to play for the Cleveland Cavaliers. But a lot has to do with the hard work and talent he has put into his basketball game. Although he had a injury-plagued season during his one year at Duke, that didn’t stop the Cavs from using the #1 pick in the 2011 NBA Draft on him.
And it didn’t take long for Kyrie to reward the Cleveland Cavaliers and his shoe sponsor, Nike. The new face of the Cavs, Irving showed the world just how talented he was during All-Star weekend. Although he didn’t make the All-Star team he participated in the 2012 Rising Stars Challenge. He went on to scored 34 points which included going 8-8 from 3-point range and earned MVP honors for the event. This put him on the national radar even more. By the finish of the year he was easily the NBA Rookie of the Year during the 2011-2012 season. The next season his stock grew even more. That lead to him not only participating in the Rising Stars Challenge once again, the next night he was in the Three-Point Shootout, which he won, and then finished the weekend by playing in his first All-Star game.
How did Kyrie top his sophomore year you ask? Well for the 2014 All-Star game he was voted in to be the starting point guard for the Eastern Conference. Then he went on to have a monster game with 31 points and dishing 14 assists to take home the biggest award, All-Star game MVP. During his third year he was also able to notch the first triple double of his career. The Cavs were slowly getting better but the team took a dramatic upswing during the offseason thanks to the return of LeBron James and the addition of Kevin Love. Ohhh yeah that was after an off-season where he was part of Team USA and won the FIBA World Cup MVP award.
As successful he has been as a player, the team has struggled. But this season, 2014-2015, would be different and Kyrie has not disappointed. Taking some time to mesh with his new teammates Kyrie has still shown he can be the great player he is and help his team with a strong push for the Playoffs, which he will make for the first time. This year Nike Basketball has released his first signature shoe, the Kyrie 1, which he has worn during some amazing feats. Not only did he drop the dreaded double-nickel (55 points) against the Portland Trailblazers earlier in the year, he followed that up with a NBA season-high and career high 57 points against the defending champion San Antonio Spurs.
Not to shabby for a 23-year-old.
Ohhhh and he’s probably still going to be able to cross you up when he’s old too.
Aaron Nojima
Sneaker History
Robbie Falchi