Dallas Mavericks star point guard Kyrie Irving has been hailed as one of the most controversial figures in the NBA in recent years. This stems from a combination of Owen’s volatile personality and strong personal stances on sensitive cultural issues.
All of this has made Irving one of the premier “villains” in the minds of league fans. However, according to comedian Andrew Schultz, Irving’s controversial behavior has benefited some people, including his former Cleveland Cavaliers costar LeBron James.
During a recent episode of the “Flagrant” podcast with Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy, Schultz talked about Irving’s evolving villain arc. Schultz said that to him, the star point guard becoming one of the NBA’s most hated players is James’ greatest success:
“To me, Kyrie’s villain arc is LeBron’s biggest success,” Schultz said.
Portnoy later agreed, saying he was a big fan of Irving before seeing him play for his hometown Boston Celtics:
“Yeah, seriously. I’ve always hated LeBron, so I was actually rooting for Kyrie before he came to Boston,” Portnoy said.
“I was like, ‘Kyrie is the guy you want, he’s the guy shooting the ball, not you.’ … The thing that drives me crazy about Kyrie is he has the ability to talk about things and create stories. habit. … And then he’d say, ‘Why are you asking me that?'”
(Marked 1:37:45 below.)
Although Irving and James won the 2016 NBA championship, Irving and James didn’t always see eye to eye during the three seasons from 2014 to 2017. Many fans sided with Irving at the time, given James’ reputation for being overbearing at times. When Irving was traded to Boston in 2017, it seemed like he just wanted to get out of James’ shadow and start fresh. However, Irving has since experienced turmoil in both Boston and Brooklyn. This, in turn, led many fans to conclude that James was not at fault for the souring relationship with Irving in Cleveland.
In retrospect, most people would agree now that James was able to win a championship with the enigmatic Irving in a year that looks increasingly impressive. This is especially true considering Irving hasn’t even come close to replicating the postseason success he experienced with James after leaving Cleveland.
Also Read: ‘Certified Team Killer’: Dave Portnoy of Barstool Sports fame slams Kyrie Irving after planned one-on-one fails to materialize
Andrew Schultz says Kyrie Irving might be too smart for his own good
During a podcast discussion about Kyrie Irving, Andrew Schultz added that Irving is one of the smartest and most talented basketball players of all time. However, Schultz said the biggest drawback of the talented point guard is that he may be too smart for his own good.
Schultz believes that Irving’s tendency to overthink may be why he has become such a controversial figure:
“He’s a basketball genius,” Schultz said.
“Just one-on-one, maybe we’ve never seen anything like it. … If you ask any basketball player, after an offensive game, they’re going to point to Kyrie’s skill set. … So, maybe be a guy who thinks outside the box.” The thinkers who created this game think about games in this way, and the baggage is also thinking about life in this way.”
(Marked 1:36:35 below.)
Considering Kyrie Irving is 31 years old, it seems unlikely that he will change his way of thinking anytime soon at this point. So Dallas, or whatever team Irving ends up with in the future, will likely have to continue to deal with both the positive and negative aspects of the star point guard.
ALSO READ: ‘I thought he might be crazy’: Dave Portnoy gets weird late-night text from Kyrie Irving full of lengthy musings on solving world problems