Kyrie Irving addresses trade: I want to be happy and maximize my potential

Kyrie Irving requested a trade about two months ago. The Cavaliers shopped him, sparking rumors about half the league. Anonymously sourced reports about why he wanted to leave Cleveland, which been to three straight NBA Finals, focused on LeBron James. Irving appeared in a video laughing along as Stephen Curry mocked LeBron (though with no ill intent, Curry insists). The Cavs finally reached a deal with the Celtics only for it to take nearly another week to be completed.

All the while, Irving stayed silent publicly on the trade saga.

Until now.

Irving posted a video called “Thank you Cleveland.” It’s a bit rambling, but this excerpt was my key takeaway:

When you get to that point, and you understand that the best intentions for you – and, ultimately, to being your truth – and find out what you really want to do in your life and how you want to accomplish it – that moment comes, and you take full advantage of it. And there are no other ulterior reasons other than being happy and wanting to be somewhere where you feel like it’s an environment that’s conducive for you maximizing your potential as a human being and as a player perfecting their craft. I put a lot of hours in and a lot of work into just trying to accomplish things that I have dreamt of as a kid.

Irving also posted to Instagram:

[embed]https://www.instagram.com/p/BYd0QnSlH0Y/?taken-by=kyrieirving[/embed]

There’s still plenty left unsaid – namely, why Cleveland was no longer a place he could be happy and feel like he was optimizing his potential. But there’s still time to sort all that out.

For now, it’s just nice to hear straight from Irving after hearing so much about Irving these last couple months.