A small part of me believes Kyrie's reasoning to be genuine. But I suspect that this represents an opportunity to project himself as some sort of deep thinking, introspective, emotional and intellectual guy that he appears to be so desperate for others to perceive him as.
I also think he will look for every possible reason to miss time this year and would put money on him opting for surgery to fix that issue that has sidelined him for so long this season. I remember saying at the start of the year that he will barely play at all this season, in his mind there is nothing to be gained from playing without Durant, and he has already thrown his current supporting cast under the bus once. Personally, I cannot wait for Durant to return and for him to fail again next season just to see what exceuse he's going to use. He won't have the stones to hint it is Durant.
That said, the only time he is on my radar is when I see him discussed in here.