As expected and predicted, Kyrie Irving‘s first press conference as a Dallas Mavericks player yielded shocking revelations. He didn’t even hold himself back from bashing his freshly departed team, the Brooklyn Nets.
The Mavericks had to trade Spencer Dinwiddie, Dorian Finney-Smith, a 2027 first-round pick, and first- and second-round picks in the 2029 NBA draft for the Nets point guard and forward Markieff Morris. Despite being in the race to acquire him, the Los Angeles Lakers failed to outbid Mark Cuban.
In this exclusive interview, the former Nets star also shed some light on his controversial anti-Semitic Instagram post that stirred the Jewish community.
What did Kyrie Irving say in his first press conference?
The Nets’ point guard was suspended in November of last year for promoting an anti-Semitic documentary on Instagram. Later, the star issued an apology post on Instagram after birthing a drama. However, the apology post was later deleted, causing another stir.
When asked about the removal of the apology post, the 30-year-old replied, “I delete a lot of things on my IG… I didn’t mean to be defensive or go at anybody. I stand by my apology and I stand by my people, everywhere.”
Kyrie on whether he deleted his apology on his IG for originally posting a link to a documentary with anti-Semitic tropes on his Twitter account and saying he does still stand by his apology. pic.twitter.com/SnAm3NpC7o
— Ohm Youngmisuk (@NotoriousOHM) February 7, 2023
The suspension had a significant impact on his career and form, even on the Nets overall. Irving faces enormous pressure and negativity from every class of people. As a professional athlete, recovering from such a setback is not a piece of cake.
Even when it is a player like the eight-time NBA all-star, the expectations pile up like sand. However, Irving finally came out of the negative attention and started performing as usual. But now it appears that not everything was solved.
Prior to leaving for the Mavericks, Kyrie Irving appeared in 40 games for the Nets and scored an average of 27.1 points with 5.1 rebounds and 5.3 assists per game.
