What is Kyrie Irving’s peak, and will the Nets ever see it?

Kyrie Irving turned 28 a couple weeks ago, 20 days after season-ending shoulder surgery grounded his initial run with the Brooklyn Nets before it ever really got off the ground.

Still, when healthy, there were incandescent nights where Irving’s soul appeared to leave his body. His debut featured a 50 ball explosion against the Timberwolves. In late January, he tattooed 45 points on the Pistons, then took a blowtorch to the Bulls a few days later. (That night he scored 27 in each half and did not miss his first shot until there was 10:36 left in the third quarter.)

A spearhead who unofficially led the league in buckets that made the opposing broadcast mutter “not much you can do about that,” Irving’s reflexive creativity was on full display seemingly whenever he wanted it to be.

In 658 total minutes, Irving averaged a career-high 27.4 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 6.4 assists, benchmarks only eclipsed by James Harden, Luka Doncic and Russell Westbrook. The other members in his usage rate (32.5) and True Shooting percentage (59.5) club were Harden, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Joel Embiid, and Trae Young.

But even though Brooklyn had the league’s fourth-best offense with Irving on the floor, they were also outscored by seven points. Twenty games wasn’t enough to make his 2019-20 season much else but a wasted growth opportunity. Irving’s statistics were all-star-caliber, but his game didn’t budge from the oxygen-sucking ultimatum it’s become.

Excited by his desire to go off script, Irving’s low points bring to mind the Tethered from Jordan Peele’s Us: attached to every ankle-obliterating work of art is a nightmarish disregard for the game plan. Until February, when his body said enough is enough, Irving preferred to shine a spotlight on his own ability rather than lift those around him. One might look at said teammates and understand where he was coming from, but that’s not enough to overlook how optional Irving’s defense was, or how often his passing to a wide-open teammate felt incidental.

Instead of evolving, Irving maintained his reputation as a gifted solo artist in a game that requires collaboration. He might have already reached a point where most of the talent-related grounds that validate his stardom have been offset by a strain of on-court selfishness and off-court eccentricism that’s been exhaustively documented throughout his entire career. While acknowledging the myriad injuries he’s suffered over the past nine years, Irving still feels further from his ceiling than a six-time All-Star smack dab in the middle of his prime should be.

For Brooklyn’s sake, it’s worth wondering if we’ve already seen the best Irving has to offer — a flat-out depressing question that’s as fair as it is unfortunate. From there, what does that player look like, the more emotionally mature and physically durable supernova who finally finds the equilibrium he needs.

The good news is part of what makes him so tantalizing is the fact many of his drawbacks are self-inflicted. If Irving’s attitude was shaped in a slightly different way, there’s no reason he couldn’t win a Most Valuable Player award, or lead the league in assists and three pointers, or consistently function within a quality defense. There’s a genius in what he does that leaves us to wonder if that player will ever see the light of day.

Instead, Irving has “only” made two All-NBA teams, and finished top 10 in scoring twice (2017-18, 2014-15), top 10 in assist rate once (2018-19), top 10 in Win Shares once (2014-15), and top 10 in Value Over Replace Player once (2018-19). He never finished higher than eighth in any of those categories, either. Some of that’s circumstantial — thanks to health issues and who he played with — but doesn’t jibe with his (deserved) reputation as one of the very best at his position.

Pinpointing the apex of Irving’s career isn’t easy, but everyone can agree he scaled one daunting precipice in the 2016 playoffs. Operating with championship-or-bust expectations as LeBron James’ sidekick, Irving averaged 29 points in closeout games, including his 41-points-on-24-shots, back-against-the-wall Game 5 Finals masterpiece that forever altered how he’s perceived, regardless of what he actually does.

As magical as Irving’s ad libs tend to be, so many of them tack on an unnecessary degree of difficulty — like a brain surgeon who insists on wearing a blindfold before every operation. If he sees no problem raining 12-foot turnarounds along the baseline or plopping off-hand floaters on the back of the rim, no coach can or should demand he keep them in his bag. That’s how max-contract stars are treated. It’s on them to recognize the vices that hold them back, then make it right. For Irving, the easiest fix is his shot selection: 41 percent of his field goal attempts this year were launched from the mid-range, his highest mark since 2016, per Cleaning the Glass.

Nights when Irving’s jumper didn’t fall in the absence of a Plan B were frustrating for this very reason. If he doesn’t have it going, there are limited ways in which he can still impact winning. This isn’t a request for permanent migration away from an area where he still inflicts a good amount of damage, but cutting back on them in favor of a more disciplined plan of attack would be wise. Few players would better milk an expanded off-ball role like Irving can:

He attempted a career-high 7.1 threes per game with the Nets, but his three-point rate remained below what it was during his time in Boston. This should not be, especially for a high-usage scorer who doesn’t live at the free-throw line. In three of the past four seasons, Irving shot better than 40 percent on above-the-break threes, yet they’ve only accounted for 29 percent of all his shots. (Over that same span Kyle Lowry is at a 52 percent above-the-break frequency while Kemba Walker is at 42 percent.)

Again, this isn’t to suggest Irving renovate his entire shot selection, but tabling a few of these each night would help the whole, even if it’s assumed that every single one of them will drop:

There’s a chance that Irving will forever view that side-step three over Steph Curry as proof of his way leading to success at the highest level. Of course, that came beside James, arguably the greatest player who ever lived and someone who allowed Irving to solely concern himself with putting the ball in the basket against defenders who prioritized their focus stopping someone else.

Brooklyn clearly wants to replicate that model, with Durant assuming as much of James’ playmaking duties as he can while either a third star or even Caris LeVert occupies just enough space to let an untainted Irving cook with grease. That scenario isn’t impossible, but only with total buy in on the defensive end and a humongous amount of luck. So much of Brooklyn’s title hopes hinge not only on Irving’s health, but also his willingness to amend the parts of his on-court persona that have been more detrimental than effective when his team needs him most.

Can Irving make another leap before his prime is through? The ingredients are there, but such progress won’t come without a splash of trust and sacrifice; him accepting how to positively impact the game by blending in lieu of standing out. The great ones know when and how to adapt, Irving has enough talent to become one.

These words might sound hollow when directed at a savant who annihilates defenders that assume the agility of a wheelbarrow when standing in his way, but anyone who’s watched Irving’s team’s play with and without him over the past few years knows exactly what they mean.