Spencer Dinwiddie Started Recruiting Kyrie to Brooklyn While They Took a Harvard Business Class
By Brendan Azoff
Kyrie Irving initiated a shock to the NBA system by committing to the Brooklyn Nets when free agency opened on Sunday, moving the Nets out from under the shadow of the "big brother" New York Knicks in undisputed fashion. Many assumed Irving, who is from New Jersey, would be attracted to the idea of coming to play basketball in New York, but the prevailing opinion months ago was that he would be wearing blue and orange instead of black and white.
And yet, here we are.
"In my heart I knew I always wanted to play at home ..."
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) July 1, 2019
Kyrie Irving shares what it will mean to play at home for the Nets.
(via @RocNationSports)pic.twitter.com/y0TAgHdqSD
All that changed when Irving signed with the Nets and joined up with Kevin Durant in the process, but the question remained: what made Kyrie ultimately choose Kings County over Midtown Manhattan? Well, according to Marc Stein of the New York Times, Nets guard Spencer Dinwiddie's relationship with Kyrie -- one that started in a Harvard Business School class they took together -- may have been the spark that swayed Irving's decision.
Latest for @NYTSports: Going inside the Nets and how they achieved in less than four years what has eluded the Knicks for 20 —> https://t.co/LstsXLCc5j
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) July 2, 2019
The two players hit it off and remained in contact past the end-date of the class, and will now be teammates once the 2019-20 NBA season gets underway. It is amazing to see that a class whose sole purpose was to prepare athletes for life after basketball could have such a momentous impact in the present.
The Nets and their fans have just two words to say to Dinwiddie: THANK YOU. Due to his ability to forge a genuine bond with the notoriously idosyncratic Kyrie, the Nets are the NBA's newest rising contender.