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Australian-American basketball player Kyrie Irving has accumulated an estimated net worth of $90 million over the course of his career. He has shown extreme talent and determination as a player and won one championship title and earned his place numerous times as part of the NBA All-Star Team. He has also won Olympic Gold medal and earned hundreds of millions with his salary starting at $35 million and closing different brand endorsements. Take a look at how his dream of becoming a professional basketball player became a reality.
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How He Got Interested in Playing for The NBA
Kyrie Irving was born on March 23, 1992 in Melbourne, Australia. He is the son of Drederick Irving and Elizabeth Irving and has an older sister and a younger sister. Kyrie’s father, Drederick, used to play college basketball at Boston University together with the father of Jeff and Marquis Teague, Shawn Teague, under the supervision of coach Rick Pitino. When his father completed his college, he decided to move to Australia to play professional basketball for the team Bulleen Boomers in the SEABL. Their family relocated to the Melbourne suburb of Kew for his father’s career until they decided to move back to the United States when Kyrie was two years old which resulted to Kyrie holding dual Australian and American citizenship. Kyrie’s mother died when he was four years old due to an illness and Drederick raised the siblings with the helping hand of Kyrie’s aunts. Eventually, his dad remarried to Shetellia Riley who is the agent of Kyrie to this day.
Growing up, Kyrie frequently attends his father’s adult-league games which resulted to his interests for the sports. He eventually aspired to play in the National Basketball Association after playing at the Continental Airlines Arena while they are in the school trip in fourth grade. Using his father’s connection to the Boston University, Kyrie was able to spend time in Boston University to practice and hone his talent for basketball.
High School and College Career
With his determination to play the sports, he eventually got into the team of Montclair Kimberley Academy in his freshman and sophomore years in high school. At the time, he averaged 26.5 points, 10.3 assists, 4.8 rebounds, and 3.6 steals. With this statistics, he became the second person to score 1,000 points in the school’s history. He then transferred to St. Patrick High School because he felt the need to become a better player and he wants a bigger challenge. However he had to sit out for the next 30 days of the St. Patrick's season because of the transfer. He got to play with as one of the best players in the class of 2011, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, at the St. Patrick High School
With the increased difficulty in the game, he averaged about 17.0 points, 5.0 rebounds, 6.0 assists and 2.0 steals per game in the first season but he was able to lead his team win their third New Jersey Tournament of Champions title. However the following year, the basketball team of St. Patrick High School was banned from entering the state tournament for holding a practice prior to the permitted start of the basketball winter sports season. After a year, Kyrie was selected to be part of the 2010 Junior National Select Team and played at the 2010 Nike Hoop Summit held at the Rose Garden in Portland, Oregon. He was also selected to participate at the 2010 McDonald's All-American Game as well as the 2010 Jordan Brand Classic where he was announced as the MVP alongside Harrison Barnes.
He was then invited to the Duke in a television broadcast aired on ESPNU. He accepted the invitation and played with the Blue Devils for the 2010–11 basketball seasons under the supervision of the head coach, Mike Krzyzewski. For the first eight games of the season, he was averaging 17.4 points per game with 53.2% shooting, 3.8 rebounds, 1.5 steals and 5.1 assists. For this reason, he became a strong candidate for the NCAA Freshman of the Year however he suffered severe injury during the ninth game of the season. He returned to the game when Duke was playing against Hampton which the team won. Duke then advanced to the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA Tournament however they lost to the Arizona team. This was the last game of Kyrie playing for the Duke.
Beginning his Professional Career at the NBA
He announced that he decided to forgo his final three seasons of eligibility and decided to enter the 2011 NBA draft where he was eventually picked as the first overall pick by the Cleveland Cavaliers. He was named as the 2012 Rising Stars Challenge when he played for the team Chuck where he played a game scoring 34 points in a single game with 100% shooting for three point range. With his talent seen by the association, he was selected as the 2012 NBA Rookie of the Year Award. He was then selected by the coaches to play for the All-Star game which will be his first time. He finished the game with 15 points, 4 assists, and 3 rebounds. He also participated at the Three-Point Contest which he won with 23 points. The following year, he was selected by the fans to play for the 2014 NBA All-Star game as the starting point guard for the Eastern Conference. He finished the game with 31 points and 14 assists which lead the team to beat the West.
In 2014, he signed a five-year contract with the Cavaliers for $90 million. He extended his contract following Lebron James’ decision to return to the Cavaliers and recruited Kevin Love to join them to form the Cavaliers’ Big Three. Although they had a rocky start in the season, they eventually made it to the finals. However it is not his year to win a ring yet as they lost to the Golden State Warriors in the series of six games. The following season, they were able to enter the championship again and he lead the team to win their ring in the 2015-2016 season. They faced Golden State Warriors again and Kyrie was determined to win the ring. During the game six of the championship, Lebron and Kyrie both scored 40 points each which game them their win. Kyrie did not disappoint in the game seven hitting a three pointer with the last 53 seconds in the clock giving the Cavs a three point lead in the game with 92-89 which they eventually won.
Kyrie only played for the Cavaliers for three seasons when he requested them to trade him after the 2016-2017 season. He stated that he wants to be the focal point of the team rather than playing alongside Lebron James. He was then traded after a month to the Boston Celtics in exchange for Jae Crowder, Ante Žižić, and Isaiah Thomas. His trade deal also comes with the rights to the Brooklyn Nets' 2018 first-round draft pick. He only played for the Boston Celtics for two seasons then decided to sign with the Brooklyn Nets in free agency in 2019. To this day, he is still playing with the Nets alongside Kevin Durant, Ben Simmons and Andre Drummond.
Sources: NBA, Essentially Sports, Celebrity Net Worth
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