Kyrie Irving is going through some growing pains as a star and it will be interesting to see how he responds to it. Irving spoke with Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal, and said that the team and individual struggles that have gone on this year are a wake-up call.
"I needed this. It was more or less a wake-up call. I got away with so much my first two years. It wasn’t a breeze, but everything came easy. This is the first year where every single night it’s going to be a challenge. That’s one of the things I’m getting used to and I’ve accepted."
Irving has struggled during his third season. Add on the new-found criticism about his demeanor and questions about him being selfish, and you can see why he might be stressed. The now two-time All-Star catches most of his criticism for his lack of defense.
“The numbers don’t suggest it, but for me, this is the first year I was really challenged the whole entire year. I spent the whole entire summer preparing as much as possible to be in this position. It was a lot harder than I expected. That’s part of life and part of this game. It’s growing up.”
