Stephen A.: Kyrie Irving is showing us the POWER of discovering inner peace | First Take

Stephen A.: Kyrie Irving is showing us the POWER of discovering inner peace | First Take

as Kyrie Irving prepares for his third playoff series against the Celtics since departing Boston this time in the NBA Finals Irving reflected fondly on his brief time with the franchise and expressed regret about some of his previous actions with the passionate fan base that has been pretty hostile towards him take a listen that wasn’t a great reflection of who I am and how I like to compete on a high level um you know it wasn’t a great reflection on my end towards the next Generation on what it means to control your emotions in that type of environment no matter what people are yelling at you um you know I’m built for these moments uh to be able to handle circumstances like that uh and I’ve been able to grow since then so regardless of um you know the attention that’s being paid to what it’s going to be like on my end uh I have a a group to lead uh that’s going to be looking to me for a voice of peace and um to be able to control uh what I can control and also help them through it really respect Kyrie’s introspection and his grow that he talked about Stephen A what was your reaction to his comments just there well I think the the word respect is apropo but the feelings run significantly deeper for me when it comes to Kyrie Irving um I think that right now he’s just in a marvelous state from the standpoint that he’s really really showing us you know the power of discovering inner peace and really really capturing that and what it can do for one’s life and I think that’s something that we have to pay attention to and so I I just look at him right now uh devout Muslim that he is he’s really locked in and zeroed in on finding the better part of himself and he’s a much better man than he ever even anticipated and I think we’re all benefiting from it I it’s not an exaggeration to be older than him to admit that I learn a lot from him uh from seeing how he’s acted and and I’m really really proud of him I really really am it’s special to see it really is and that’s what happens with growth mat maturation maturity he talked about some of the things that he was dealing with I think he mentioned that he had there was a death uh to someone that was very very close to him you know self is not something that you find self is something that you create and he created a very good self a peace a calm he understands that there are things the way he handled certain things he didn’t handle them right he handled them poorly and to go through what he’s been able to grow through go through and to see him find a wife and and and have kids he’s a different Stephen A he’s a different person now than what he was even in Cleveland even in Boston even in Brooklyn and maybe Brooklyn was the start of this journey that he’s constantly on and we’re constantly evolving we all going through something we all want want to continuously grow but the the young man and I say he’s a young man cuz he’s the age of my kids the young man that I see today is an unbelievable thing it is an unbelievable thing and I’m so proud that Kyrie has has has created this for himself uh we got to leave it there but just a piggyback quick Shannon also want to applaud the fact that that growth doesn’t happen by accident right you got to do the work and clearly you got to want you got to want to grow Molly yep absolutely [Music] h

On First Take, Stephen A. Smith and Shannon Sharpe elaborate on the growth and maturity they’ve witnessed from Kyrie Irving throughout the past year amid the Dallas Mavericks’ remarkable NBA Finals run.

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