Kyrie Irving spoke at Nets media day about building a supportive environment in Brooklyn this season.

Despite missing more than half of last year while refusing to comply with New York's workplace vaccine mandate, Nets players have continually spoken highly of Irving as a teammate. The fourth-year Net recently welcomed his second child and Kevin Durant said Tuesday that Irving brings his qualities as a father to Brooklyn's locker room.

“He brings some sort of that caretaker and nurturer type of vibe here, especially with the younger players,” Durant said.

With one of the league's most polarizing players in Ben Simmons entering the mix in 2022-23, Kyrie Irving has taken it upon himself to develop an open dialogue with his new teammate and fellow Australian. Simmons has been highly criticized for his lack of an outside shot throughout his career. The three-time All-Star struggled in Philadelphia's second round loss in the 2021 playoffs, infamously passing up an open dunk in a Game 7 loss. Following the game, head coach Doc Rivers said he was uncertain whether he could win a championship with Simmons as his point guard and center Joel Embiid took a shot at him for passing up the dunk.

“I mean, I'll be honest,” Embiid said. “I thought the turning point was when we — I don't know how to say it — but I thought the turning point was just we had an open shot and we made one free throw and we missed the other and then they came down and scored.”

Simmons appeared on The Old Man and the Three podcast with J.J. Redick ahead of training camp. He said the fallout from the series added to other issues he was dealing with and agreed that Rivers and Embiid threw him under the bus following Game 7.

“I’m already dealing with a lot just in life like a lot of people do, but it got to a point where after that series, I’m getting it from the people you’re supposed to get that support from or that comfort from, so it was a toll on me and mentally it killed me,” Simmons said. “I had no energy for anything, I was just in a dark place. Everyone goes through different struggles, some bigger than others, but everyone has their own battles and I think that was tough for me, just knowing I didn’t have that support from teammates.”

Irving has spoken at length during training camp about his role as a teammate alongside Simmons. On the court, Irving has been highly complimentary of Simmons' skillset and his ability to transform Brooklyn's offense. The seven-time All-Star said Friday that he has a responsibility to protect and support Simmons through the criticism.

“I think one of our greatest strengths as a human community is humanizing each other's lives,” Kyrie Irving said via Nick Friedell. “He's a human being so he's going to respond his way. And he's going to deal with things his way and we have to honor and respect that. That's what people with integrity do. Not everyone lives by those same moral principles so yeah, as a leader, I feel like it's my responsibility to protect him, but I also must understand he has to go through things on his own. And when he asks for help, just be there for him.”

“I don't want to say I have all the answers figured out myself because it's an ongoing battle myself, just dealing with those ebbs and flows,” he continued. “But for him, I just don't want to see him get caught up in the same nonsense.”

Criticism of Simmons on social media has continued this training camp with countless outlets posting a video of the Aussie airballing a shot at Brooklyn's practice in the park. The 26-year-old said Wednesday that the criticism “finds him all the time” but “comes with being Ben Simmons right now.”

“Even the other day there was a clip of me air balling a shot at the park. Meanwhile, like 10 guys airballed multiple shots,” Simmons said. “So it's like people will find one clip and try to make it that everything – like Ben can't do this or that. Like come on man, you think I'm just airballing every shot? It's not true. But it comes with it, and you got to have tough skin and I realize that, but nah, I can't take everything personally. It's social media.”

Irving has also built a reputation as a polarizing star in the league over the last few years. He said Friday that criticism on social media is part of the job but he hopes Simmons can tune it out and focus on what matters.

“This is an emotional time in our world,” Kyrie Irving said. “People attack other people for what they believe in, their jobs, whatever it is. So harsh criticism is part of it, but what's justified is how you respond. And how you deal with it. The moment he wakes up and he realizes like, ‘That's not actually my life. I have a loving, supportive system around me of people that care about me, and these are people that I can go to for honest answers.'

“Whenever you go to social media for honest answers, I don't know if you're going to return back smarter than when you went in,” he continued. “There are also good people on there reaching out and wanting to help others, so I'm just one of those people for sure.”

Irving, Simmons and the Nets wrapped up the preseason Friday night with a win in Minnesota. Simmons will take the floor in his first regular-season game in nearly 16 months when Brooklyn opens the season on Oct. 19 against New Orleans.