On Tuesday night, Kyrie Irving visited Barclays Center to face the Brooklyn Nets for the first time on the road since his trade to the Dallas Mavericks last year. The Mavericks handily took care of business, defeating the Nets 119-107 despite being on the second night of a back-to-back, with Irving leading Dallas in scoring with 36 points — a statement performance in what many would consider a “revenge game”.

In fact, Irving dominated to the point where a fan seated courtside asked him why he didn't play that way back when he was with the Nets. The Mavericks star had an immediate clapback in mind, as he singled out New York City Mayor Eric Adams as the reason for why that became the case.

From Courtside Nets, via ClutchPoints Twitter (X):

Kyrie Irving's Nets stint wasn't short of controversy, and it eventually led to his trade to the Mavericks. From beginning to end, it felt as though Irving's tenure in Brooklyn was filled with tumult, and it began to snowball for them during the 2021-22 season — the first full NBA season following the COVID-19 pandemic.

During that season, New York City Mayor Eric Adams instituted a COVID-19 vaccine mandate for workers based in the city. This included Irving, who never showed any interest in getting himself vaccinated. As a result, Irving missed the first 35 games of the season before the Nets brought him back for road games from December 2021 to March 2022.

And then in a huge turn of events, the vaccine mandate was lifted and Kyrie Irving was finally able to play at Barclays Center. By then, however, it was too little, too late. The Nets had already traded James Harden for an injured Ben Simmons, and the team was not able to recover en route to a sweep at the hands of the Boston Celtics in the first round of the 2022 NBA playoffs.

Alas, it's a stretch for the Mavericks star to blame Mayor Eric Adams entirely for what transpired during his Nets stint. Irving had plenty of self-inflicted wounds during the 2023-24 season, and it's not quite a fair assessment of things if he is absolving himself of blame.