Tim Legler: Kyrie Irving is a Basketball Narcissist

Kyrie Irving was traded to the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday afternoon. His debut on Wednesday evening will mark the third uniform Irving has worn in the last six years. There is little doubt that he'll add to that count sooner rather than later. For all of Irving's obscene talent he cannot help but make things difficult for himself and his team at every available opportunity.

That's why the Brooklyn Nets are probably glad to be done with his antics, regardless of how good friend Kevin Durant might feel about what's transpired. It's also why we're going to see a lot of segments like the one below from ESPN's Tim Legler, who called Irving a narcissist of a basketball player.

Legler took great care to stress that he is not calling Irving the person a narcissist. Merely who Irving is as a basketball player. And, uh, hard to disagree on that point! The last six years of Irving's career has made it very clear that he holds himself above any priorities his team might have. He is selfish. Not only is basketball just a job to Irving, he doesn't even care about success in his chosen profession. He shows up to work (when he feels like it) so he can pay for his other hobbies. Whatever those might be.

The Mavericks signing up for this adventure voluntarily is frankly insane and something that has a very high probability of aging like milk. But I guess Dallas is betting on financial motivation to ensure Irving at least comes to the games. His ugly divorce with the Nets over a lack of a guaranteed max contract at least shows that Irving cares about his paycheck. Worse bets have been made. But not many,