Kyrie Irving Says This Season Was Like Living ‘The Life Of A Martyr’, Stephen A. Blows A Gasket In Response

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• Kyrie Irving only played about half of the season with the Brooklyn Nets.
• Due to his personal choices, Irving was barred from playing in a majority of home games in New York City.
• Irving recently compared his experience to living the “life of a martyr.”

Brooklyn Nets point guard Kyrie Irving, who missed about half of the season due to his personal choices regarding vaccination, said during a recent interview that this past season was like living “the life of a martyr.”

Irving, Kevin Durant, and the rest of the Brooklyn Nets ultimately finished the season as the Eastern Conference’s #7 seed and were bounced out of the playoffs by the Boston Celtics in a four-game sweep in the first round.

According to dictionary.com, a “martyr” is defined as someone who a person who is put to death or endures great suffering on behalf of any belief, principle, or cause.” Irving, 30-years-old, is currently in the midst of a 4-year, $136 million contract that saw him earn a $34 million salary last season.

Kyrie Irving says this season was like “living the life of a martyr”

“I was not expecting a mandate to be brought down in the way that it wasn’t going to allow me to play at all. I had the opportunity to play away games still but there was no plan in place, there was no vision of how it’s going to work for our team, and I think that really impacted not just me, but a lot of people. Just had to sit in that hot seat and deal with it for a little bit, man — life of a martyr, bro,” Irving said.

ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith, one of Irving’s most vocal critics over the last year or so, responded to the former Duke point guard’s comments on First Take and implied that Irving’s beliefs are delusional, which is something he’s taken to calling Kyrie in recent weeks.

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