Kyrie Irving revealed on Gino Auriemma’s podcast that the movie Whiplash became the source of his inspiration during his knee injury recovery in 2015. The movie is about a drummer’s relationship with a very very harsh teacher per Uproxx. Irving apparently loved J.K. Simmons screaming at Miles Teller.
Irving revealed he first saw it on Kobe Bryant’s Muse documentary.
“He was talking about ‘Whiplash,’ and I was like, ‘Man, I got to catch that movie.’ I had no idea what it was going into it. I ended up ordering it and watching it, and watched it over and over, and watched it probably about six times.”
The Celtics point guard was completely blown away by Whiplash, which he felt provided a model for the work ethic he needed to rehab from injury and find success in the league.
“I just, I was amazed,” he continued. “It was just that twitch. It was just that extra level that I knew I had to push through despite what I was going through. The perfection of the craft in anything that people are doing in life, it takes a sh– ton of sacrifice and being away from things that normal people would want to do.”
“You have to sacrifice relationships, you have to sacrifice a ton of your focus. You have to develop your mental aptitude, and I started figuring out that the little things matter in the grand scheme of things and in putting on a huge performance,” Irving explained. “No one gets to see the things you do behind closed doors. The sleepless nights and staying up late and bleeding, basically bleeding for your craft because you want to be that great. I took all that from that movie, and I started loving it more and more.”
Every player finds inspiration and motivation from a different place. Thanks to Kobe Bryant, who Irving holds in high regard, he was able to discover a movie that not only inspired him to recover from a knee injury but has allowed him to take his game to the next level.