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The divorce between LeBron James and Kyrie Irving is only getting even more petty as time goes on. Despite Irving being traded to the Boston Celtics over a month ago, it appears that Kyrie is still taking shots at his former Cavs teammate. Following the Celtics’ first preseason game of 2017 against the Charlotte Hornets, Irving was wearing a hat with a message that seemingly targeted LeBron. During the postgame interviews, Irving was wearing a hat that read, “Popularity contests are not truth contests.”
Kyrie's hat. Strange strange dude. pic.twitter.com/pE5KVExcK7
— Chuck Zambito (@LegendsRforever) October 3, 2017
This isn’t the first time Irving has addressed LeBron and the trade from the Cavaliers. A couple of weeks ago, Irving appeared on ESPN’s “First Take” where he told Stephen A. Smith:
“I don’t think you owe anything to another person in terms of figuring out what you want to do with your life. It’s not anything personal, I’m not here to tirade anybody or to go at any particular person or the organization because I have nothing but love for Cleveland. I have nothing but love for the time I spent there. It’s nothing about that. There comes a time where you mature as an individual, it’s time to make that decision, and there is no looking back from that standpoint. There is no time to figure out how to save somebody’s feelings when ultimately you have to be selfish in figuring out what you want to do.”
During Kyrie’s interview, LeBron posted a workout video with Kevin Love, possibly showing Irving that he had moved on from the bitter divorce.
As for Irving’s debut with the Celtics, he played 19 minutes and finished with nine points on 4-of-11 shooting with four rebounds, three assists, two steals and a turnover. He also had two-handed slam after a crisp give-and-go with new teammate Al Horford. The Celtics beat the Hornets by the score of 94-82.
What a pass by Horford to a cutting Kyrie, who finishes the play by (sorta) dunking on Batum.
Celts offense is gonna be ridiculous. pic.twitter.com/7LAHMM1gPU
— Frank Urbina (@FrankUrbina_) October 2, 2017
Last week, James revealed how he felt after Irving demanded a trade out of Cleveland. “I had a ton of emotions,” James said. “I tried to do whatever I could to help the kid out to be the best player he could be, tried to help him be a better leader, a better scorer, a better floor general, a better defender, a better passer, a better leader vocally. I tried to give him as much of the DNA as I could, because at some point, when he was ready to take over the keys, I was ready to give them to him.”
Irving and James will meet on the court as foes on October 18 when the Cavs visit the Celtics in the NBA season opener at TD Garden. The Celtics absolutely need to play the Cavs in the playoffs.
[Uproxx]