This week Kyrie Irving made headlines again, this time pertaining to the shooting abilities of his former teammates, or lack thereof.
On episode 1 of Kevin Durant’s new The ETCs podcast he had his new All-Star teammate on with him. Everyone knows him as Kyrie Irving, some people know him as “Uncle Drew,” others know him for saying the earth is flat and others know him for making “the shot” that helped the Cleveland Cavaliers come back from being down 3-1 to beat the Golden State Warriors and win the 2016 NBA title.
That last affiliation is what led to Irving being in the news cycle this past week for his comments on KD’s podcast. Although KD and Kyrie have yet to step on the court together as teammates for Brooklyn, the former Cleveland Cavalier stated that Durant is the first teammate he trusts to take and make clutch shots.
As you probably already know most people interpreted this as a direct shot to LeBron James, arguably the best teammate Irving has ever had. The two played together for three years in Cleveland, set a finals record for both scoring 41 points in an NBA Finals game and won that 2016 title together, facilitated by Irving’s late-game three point shot over Stephen Curry and LeBron’s block on Andre Iguodala. Since then there has been multiple reports that Kyrie started feeling himself, so to speak, and felt as though he was the main reason they won that championship, not LeBron.
After playing one more season after the championship, Irving forced a trade which landed him in Boston for a couple of seasons. There statistically the Celtics performed better without him on the court than with him, and reports came out that he didn’t get along with guys in that locker room either. He even pointed out to the media that the young guys weren’t doing what was necessary to win. Lastly, last summer Irving announced he was “coming home” to play for the Brooklyn Nets (who used to be located in New Jersey), alongside Kevin Durant.
So, fast forward to 2020, after all the reports of how Irving truly felt about the one and only championship he won alongside LeBron, it makes sense why most people assumed he was talking about the 3x champion and kid from Akron. It was like pouring alcohol on an already ignited flame since for a while many believed there is bad blood between the former teammates.
As you might imagine, Irving’s words rubbed many the wrong way, one person in this crowd is ESPN personality, Stephen A. Smith.
Shortly after, Irving tried to get in front of it and went on his Instagram saying that people need to stop assuming that his comments were directed at one particular individual and that they should also stop putting him against his “brothers.”
Smith then responded saying that Irving definitely meant LeBron and that he should just own it instead of denying it because everyone is right to think of LeBron first when he said what he said.
Hell, if we’re being honest there are many guys who can take Irving’s podcast comments offensively. He’s played with some great teammates and shooters over the years. LeBron, Kevin Love, JR Smith, Kyle Korver, Mike Miller, Jayson Tatum and even Gordon Hayward. All whom can make and take big shots.
Now, will we ever get a clear answer on who Irving was talking about and whose clutch shooting ability he was taking a shot at? Probably not, until Uncle Drew is legitimately old and grey speaking in one of those documentaries. For now though, all we can do is speculate.
