Kyrie Irving

Kyrie Andrew Irving was born on March 23, 1992 to American parents, Drederick and Elizabeth Irving in Melbourne, Australia. He has two sisters, Asia and London. The family moved to the US when Kyrie was young.

His father was a basketball player who played for the Bulleen Boomers. He had earlier played college basketball at Boston University. Irving lost his mother when he was only four years of age.

Irving grew up in West Orange, in New Jersey, US. He often went to his father’s adult-league games, from where he received his inspiration to play in the NBA one day.

Irving played for the Montclair Kimberley Academy, where he had an average of 26.5 points, 10.3 assists, 4.8 rebounds and 3.6 steals. Later, he transferred to St. Patrick High School, where he played alongside Michael Kidd-Gilchrist. As a teenager, he also played for the Road Runners of the Amateur Athletic Union. After completing high school, he joined Duke University.

From 2009, Kyrie Irving started playing for Duke University. During the 2010-11, he played with Duke under the guidance of Mike Krzyzewski, the head coach. He had an average of 17.4 points per game on 53.2% shooting, through the first eight games of the season, along with 5.1 assists, 3.8 rebounds and 1.5 steals. Though his team had advanced to the Sweet Sixteen of the NCA tournament, they fell to Arizona.

Irving entered the 2011 NBA draft, where he was picked by the Cleveland Cavaliers. Along with his teammate Tristan Thompson, he signed a contract with the team. Both of them were named to the 2012 Rising Stars Challenge. His skills earned him the 2012 NBA Rookie of the Year Award for the season.

In 2012, there was a heated debate about Irving being given a position on the Australian team for the 2012 Olympics. But Irving refused to represent Australia, and stated that he was more interested in being selected for the US National Team in the 2016 Olympics.

In the 2012-13 season, he injured his index finger in a game against the Dallas Mavericks, which resulted in a loss for the Cavaliers. His injury didn’t allow him to play for three weeks. However, later in the season, he was seen becoming the youngest player in the history of NBA to score 40 points in the Madison Square Grade.

His performance in the 2013-14 season was also remarkable. He recorded his first career triple double with 21 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds in a 99-79 win against the Utah Jazz in February 2014.

Kyrie Irving has won several awards and honors throughout his career. He was named ‘Rookie of the Year’ in 2012 as well as named to ‘All-Rookie First team’ the same year.

In 2014, he helped his team win the gold medal at the FIBA Basketball World Cup and was named FIBA World Cup MVP.

His biggest achievements came in 2016. He aided his team win the NBA championship as well as the gold medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics in the same year.