Following the Dallas Mavericks‘ 113-106 loss to the New Orleans Pelicans, star guard Kyrie Irving unwound by doing a live stream on Twitch.
During the March 8 stream, he ranted about a few things, most prominently, being labeled as a “cancer” in various locker rooms.
“Me, you think that I’m the cancer in the locker room as if basketball is an individual sport that one person is supposed to take blame for. It’s 15 guys on the team, and I’m the one cancer in the room,” he ranted. “That’s what it’s portrayed as. That’s what you guys get. That’s what they have fun doing. That’s why these older, bitter gentlemen and women keep my name in their mouths every day.”
Irving then sounded off on the limited perspective that many have of him.
“You see me for three hours and you think you know who I am,” he said. “You see a few posts: ‘Oh Ky is woke, Ky got it, oh, Ky is, oh my goodness. He just doesn’t fit into the mold of all the people. He’s different, he’s crazy, he’s arrogant, he’s this, he’s that.’ All from seeing me for three hours. You get all that.”
“It’s 15 guys on the team and I’m the one cancer in the room. That’s what it’s portrayed as…these older, bitter gentlemen and women keep my name in their mouths every day”
– Kyrie Irving
(h/t @NBA_NewYork )
Mavs’ Kyrie Irving is Sick of Being Asked About Previous Stops
Irving moved on to the common questions he gets from fans and/or media members. He cited the constant questioning about his former NBA teams and teammates.
“‘What’s Ky gonna do this summer? Does Ky like Dallas? What happened in Brooklyn? What happened in Boston? What happened in Cleveland? Why did you leave LeBron [James]? Why did you leave Jayson [Tatum]? Why did you leave KD [Kevin Durant]? Why did you leave all these people?’ For three hours — get to ask all these legitimate questions as if 21 hours every day wasn’t happening after that.”
Mavs’ Kyrie Irving Sounds Off on Gambling Fans
Another talking point of Irving’s Twitch rant was the impact that legalized sports gambling has had on basketball and the NBA.
“Gambling and sports betting has completely taken the purity away and the fun away from the game at times,” Irving said. “I’m gonna just be honest with y’all. Work is work, but the support around it can be distracting. There’s a difference between being a diehard fan and supporting your team and loving your team versus somebody that’s betting on a parlay or somebody that wants to hit. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want anybody wasting their money on me,” he said. “But God dang, like this whole community of gamblers that’s coming to the game of basketball. Y’all tell me what y’all think. If you want to gamble, why don’t you gamble on something that makes sense to you?”
He then gave examples of angry gamblers taking to social media and messaging players, after losing bets.
“I’m just saying you gambling, you going to win or lose. But that doesn’t mean slide into people’s DMs or wishing bad on them or doing the extra s–t that goes on, man. It blows my mind sometimes. You feel me?”
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Mavericks’ Kyrie Irving Sounds Off in Viral Rant After Loss to Pelicans