Kyrie Irving opened up to Joe Vardon of The Athletic about his leadership role in the Brooklyn Nets locker room,

The comments come on the heels of a report released earlier this week that the Nets are already concerned about Irving's "mood swings."

“True leadership comes from the way your actions speak ... It’s just not trying to overemphasize what leadership means all the time and overexplain it, in terms of, ‘This is me as a leader.’ Because truth be told, there is not just one leader in the locker room," said Irving.

Kenny Atkinson defended Irving from the report, saying that he's been an "A-plus" teammate.

Irving added that he's learned from his past experience with the Celtics about not overemphasizing the leadership role.

“I think it’s just the realization that I’m going to be one of the leaders, regardless (of) whether I want to come out and say it or not,” said Irving.