Her boss of 20 years died unexpectedly in a hotel room in Miami on Halloween. Calling him her boss doesn't adequately describe their relationship. Aside from other job titles and and responsibilities that came her way over that 20 year span, she remained his assistant.
It was the most devastated I've ever seen my wife. It was horrible. All she wanted to do was cry, but her workload only got heavier. She was the person tasked with tracking down his wife to tell her the news. She organized the funeral from finding a venue large enough for the congregation he would draw to coordinating travel for guests and being a speaker. After her work tasks were finished for the day, she spent hours each night with his wife and children to comfort them and make sure they ate all while taking her after work phone calls relating to her job.

Watching her go through it was awful, but truthfully,I hardly saw her at all until a few days after the funeral because she was so busy.

If doing nothing had been an option, she would have taken it too. Irving is fortunate that his job is just basketball and it could go on without him. If he was as wrecked as my wife was, I don't blame him for stepping aside for a day.