Getty Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant against Knicks
Damian Lillard has been trending in recent days because of his heroics in the NBA bubble.
Kyrie Irving this year:
📍 Donated $323,000 & $250,000 in meals to NYC during COVID-19.
📍Donated 200,000 Beyond Burgers to NYC food banks.
📍 Started a $1.5 Million fund to support WNBA players.
📍Produced Justice for Breonna Taylor tv show.
📍Donated 50,000 COVID-19 masks.
Last night, the Portland Trail Blazers point guard scored 61 points in the Blazers’ 134-131 win over the Dallas Mavericks.
This led to folks playing the comparison game on Twitter. Some bodly stated that Lillard was better than Irving on the court.
Kyrie Irving got something Damian Lillard doesn’t 🤷🏽♂️ Ky > Dame
While NBA players have been grinding in the bubble, Brooklyn Nets point guard, Kyrie Irving has been active via social justice.
The NBA’s Rookie of the Year during the 2011-12 NBA Season and the 2014 NBA All-Star MVP, Irving had season-ending surgery this winter after suffering thoracic bursitis.
Currently Irving is rehabbing his surgically repaired shoulder and has not joined the seventh-seeded Nets in the bubble in Orlando.
He’s still been keeping busy.
Recently, Irving joined Academy Award and Grammy Award winner, Common, Brittany Packnett Cunningham, Alicia Garza, Dr. Brittney Cooper and Representative Ayanna Pressley for a virtual discussion to drive action around the murder of Breonna Taylor in a panel hosted by Jemele Hill.
Kyrie Irving to @jemelehill: “We lose a mentor in Kobe & you know, a lot of people lost Kobe as a mentor – God rest his soul. I miss him daily but what he was doing for the W really inspired me to continue to carry that torch.” – t.co/iNEpLyhfPw
Story via @HeavySan.
Last month, Irving started a $1.5 Million fund to support WNBA players and also donated 50,000 COVID-19 masks.
Irving, 28, averaged 27.4 points, 5.2 rebounds and 6.4 assists per contest this season in his first year with the Nets.
Additionally, Irving and his sister, Asia Irving recently collaborated on the creation of the Brooklyn Nets point guard’s Kyrie 6 Nike sneaker. The duo created two different color schemes.
The coronavirus pandemic halted play back in March in the NBA. When that happened, Irving pledged tha he will donate $323,000 to Feeding America and will help distribute 250,000 meals in the New York City area. “Seeing the effects of COVID-19 reach our loved ones, our schools, our jobs, and access to food has really impacted me,” Irving said via Instagram.
“I am excited to partner with @feedingamerica and @lineagelogistics to launch the Share A Meal campaign to help marginalized communities get the food resources they require during this time.”
“I am asking my fans, friends, family and partners to join me in helping our communities by donating at the link in my bio,” Irving said. “Thank you to everyone on the front line working to keep all of us safe, healthy, and fed. Together we can change the world one small gesture at a time.”
In April, Irving donated 200,000 vegan Beyond Burgers to Food Bank for New York City to aid its hunger-relief efforts during the coronavirus pandemic.
Worth noting: In 2017, he adopted a plant-based diet and he takes it seriously, especially on game days.
“If it’s a game day, I would go there in the morning around eight o’clock to prepare breakfast,” Irving’s chef, Corey Bryant told me back in the spring while on the Scoop B Radio Podcast.
“He’ll do his daily rituals, relax and then he’ll take his pregame. I’ll still be at the house. After I make his breakfast, I’ll make his pregame meal so he can get ready; take it with him to the arena. Then prepare his dinner for after the game and so that’s basically every day. It’s an everyday process. Three meals a day – breakfast, lunch and dinner and sometimes a snack in between … a smoothie or power ball or something like that.”
In 2019, Irving and 13 other professional athletes like the Oklahoma City Thunder’s Chris Paul invested in Beyond Meat and kicked off the vegan brand’s “Go Beyond” campaign as athlete ambassadors.
A six-time NBA All-Star, Irving was the first pick in the 2011 NBA Draft. Playing alongside notable Cavs teammates LeBron James, Kevin Love and JR Smith and guided by head coach, Ty Lue, they won an NBA Championship in 2016.
In May, Irving, in conjunction with Nike, donated 17 pallets of food and 50,000 N95 maskts to the Standing Rock Sioux tribe that will be distributed across a wide expanse of North and South Dakota.
Per Nets Daily: Irving’s late mother, Elizabeth Ann Larson, was a member of the tribe and lived on the reservation until her adoption at a young age. Irving and his sister, model Asia Irving, traveled to the reservation in August 2018 , when they were welcomed into the tribe and given Lakota names.
According to local news reports, pallets and masks arrived in two tractor trailers.
“We would like to say Wopila Tanka (thank you) to our relative Kyrie Irving for giving back in such a trying time,” the tribe said in a post on its Twitter page.