Through his first six years in the league, Cleveland Cavaliers point guard Kyrie Irving has developed into one of the premier players.
Irving is coming off his best individual season where he averaged 25.2 points on 47.3 shooting from the field and 40.1 percent from 3-point range along with 5.8 assists per game. These statistics put him in his own category in NBA history.
Kyrie Irving also notched more 20 or more points in 60 of his 72 games last season, which also included career-high 21 consecutive games reaching that mark. On top of that, he recorded 30 or more point 12 times and at least 40 points on four occasions.
These are quite impressive numbers but were overshadowed by his teammate LeBron James, who averaged triple-double like statistics averaging 26.4 points, 8.7 assists, and 8.6 rebounds per game. It could be fairly argued that James experienced his best individual campaign in his 14th year in the league.
This alone provides a more clear example for Irving’s reason that he remains in James’ shadow despite him putting together the best individual season. The four-time league MVP is the driving force of the team, which is a leadership role that the 25-year-old is looking to take on with another organization
Irving has experienced a huge amount of success in Cleveland over the last three years with three straight NBA Finals appearances and his first title. However, he has now adopted the mind frame that he can lead an NBA team to success as the primary offensive contributor and face of the franchise.
