Early in the offseason, Kyrie Irving demanded to be traded to another team and the Cleveland Cavaliers had no choice but to grant his wish. According to the guard, he did not want to play with LeBron James anymore and he wanted to run his own team and be the first option on it. That is something the Cavaliers couldn't give him, so they ended up trading him to the Boston Celtics instead.
While the Celtics aren't as good as the Cavaliers and they most likely won't reach the NBA Finals, Irving is happy on the team and he's looking forward to being in Boston.
However, his comments made it clear that he didn't leave Cleveland on good terms and he recently had more to stay about his former team. Irving's first game with the Celtics will be in Cleveland, and there is no doubt that the Cavaliers fans will boo him, especially after what he said yesterday.
Kyrie Irving throwing shade at Cleveland
Prior to the preseason game against the Charlotte Hornets, Kyrie Irving compared the two cities, saying that Boston feels more like a sports city than Cleveland. "It’s a really major city. Coming from Cleveland, the Midwest, where the culture is different. And then you move to the East Coast — into Boston — and it’s so real [and] alive. An ongoing, thriving city," said the point guard.
Irving added that you can see a big difference between Boston and Cleveland. "I’m driving in and [thinking], ‘I’m really playing in a real, live sports city?’ And a great city," said Irving.
These comments were definitely uncalled for and Irving could have answered the question in another way. There is no doubt that he tried to talk bad about Cleveland rather than to say how good Boston is.
While the difference between these two cities is indeed big, there was no need for the point guard to say all the things he said.
Irving reveals another difference
Beside the cities, Kyrie Irving compared the Celtics and the Cavaliers. The point guard compared two different playstyles these two teams have, but he seemingly threw more shade at his former team.
Jalen Rose asks Kyrie Irving what's the biggest difference between Cleveland and Boston. His answer: "ball movement."
— Bill Sy (@deliberatepix) October 12, 2017
When Jalen Rose asked the Celtics guard about the biggest difference between the teams, Kyrie Irving responded that ball movement is the biggest difference. Irving definitely wanted to imply that LeBron James is the reason for that, and while it's partially true, Irving himself is another reason why ball movement was bad in Cleveland. Irving is far from a pass-first point guard and he was mostly in charge of ball movement.
