One year has already passed since the Brooklyn Nets traded Kyrie Irving to the Dallas Mavericks, and Irving appears to be in a much better place, at least from a mental and emotional point of view. On Tuesday, Irving dropped 36 points in his first game at Barclays Center as a Mavericks player, leading Dallas to a 119-107 win over Brooklyn — playing like a rejuvenated version of himself.

Irving's time with the Nets had been filled with so much tumult that staying in Brooklyn didn't look like an appealing course of action. The grass may not always be greener on the other side, but that cliche doesn't apply to Irving's move to the Mavericks, where he has received nothing but love and appreciation from the team's top brass.

“It was time to get my own peace of mind & go somewhere where I was able to thrive & be in a situation where I didn't have to worry about behind-the-back talk, media talk or not knowing how to handle real-life circumstances that have nothing to do with basketball,” Irving said in his postgame presser, per Nets Videos on Twitter (X).

The relationship between Kyrie Irving and the Nets franchise had turned so fraught; during the Mavericks star's past two seasons with the team, controversy seemed to follow the polarizing guard wherever he went.

During the 2021-22 season, Irving became the subject of ire after he refused to get vaccinated, so he missed plenty of games as a result. And then in the following year, the Nets suspended Irving after the mercurial guard tweeted out a link to a film spewing anti-Semitic views.

One would think that Nets fans won't be too pleased with Kyrie Irving because he was the one who jumped ship even though Brooklyn was in a strong position during the 2022-23 campaign. Nevertheless, the Mavericks star acknowledged that fans' perception of him isn't exactly something he believes he can control.

“Honestly I don't care because that's subjective. Everybody has their own opinion. I'm just going to let it run its course. Hopefully in the next few years it's done,” Irving added.

But for as long as the Nets tread water in the NBA's dreaded middle ground, fans of the team will be left to think of what might have been had Kyrie Irving avoided drama during his time in Brooklyn.