Kyrie Irving and the Boston Celtics hate each other. He led them off, called his teammates out, failed to lead them in the playoffs, and then bailed. The fans refuse to let it go, and he loves taunting them, even if he likes to pretend he doesn’t.
But all the taunting and the name-calling have gone a little too far from both sides. Kyrie’s gotten the worst part of the fanbase, and he’s fired back with an attitude no professional athlete should ever have on the court.
Truth be told, both have crossed the line over and over and this could only end in a bad situation. That’s why his former teammate, Richard Jefferson, urges him to just stop and lead by example.
Richard Jefferson Goes Off Against Kyrie Irving For Flipping Off Celtics Fans
“Kyrie has seen everything,” Jefferson started. “The b-word, the p-word all of these words, we have seen since we were in High School, we have seen since we were in college. I respect Kyrie and I understand his intensity but there’s kids back there. That is not your responsibility, but the minute you do that there are little kids back there that aren’t doing anything.”
Jefferson compared Kyrie’s situation to Trae Young and fans in New York. Knicks fans hate Trae’s guts just because he dominated them in the playoffs, yet he silenced them with his play and not cursing them out:
“Now while there are fans back there saying these things, that’s out of your control,” Jefferson continued.“You control what you can control on the court and off the court. So to do that and to have kids sitting behind you… you saw in that video there was a kids reaction like ‘oh my God’ like we can’t meet the fan’s energy the same way. You saw what Trae Young did in the Garden where the whole crowd was doing everything, you know what Trae Young did? Trae Young took a bow. And Trae Young hasn’t even been in a quarter of the situations that Kyrie has been when you’re talking about intense basketball.”
Jefferson talked about how Kyrie should know better than to flip off the fans and get down to their level. He thinks that attitude isn’t positive for the league and can only do more harm than good:
“I understand this is gonna be an emotional situation for Kyrie and even Boston fans but ultimately Kyrie has to be better, fans have to be better, but I just implore all players that when you’re reacting to that fan, you’re not just reacting to that fan. You’re reacting to the kids, the women, all the men that are sitting around them that are innocent bystanders and I just don’t think that’s positive for our league,” the former champion concluded.
At the end of the day, Kyrie feels like he’s teaching the fans a lesson but he’s only perpetuating this cycle. He’s not the first nor won’t be the last superstar to be hated by a fan base, so he should do what those before him have done: Beatthem on the court.