Kyrie Irving sounds off about the reaction to his conversation with Kevin Durant over All-Star Weekend
"If this was the real world, would it be anybody else's business?"
Celtics point guard Kyrie Irving is not a fan of the reaction to a video of him and Golden State Warriors forward Kevin Durant chatting in a hallway of the Spectrum Center during All-Star Weekend.
“It’s a video of me and one of my best friends talking,” Irving told reporters in Milwaukee Wednesday afternoon following the team’s first practice after the All-Star break. “And then it turns out to be a dissection of a free agency meeting? Do you get that? Like, do you get that? And then I’m asked questions about that? That’s what disconnects me from all that s***.”
Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving last night 👀
(@jpizzy15 sent me the video) pic.twitter.com/xKXT8MPnwm
— Ben Stinar (@BenStinar) February 18, 2019
The viral clip, which was first posted by NBA reporter Ben Stinar on Twitter Monday, shows Irving and Durant having a conversation in their warmups before Sunday night’s tip-off. Their words are essentially inaudible, but that didn’t stop self-proclaimed lip-reading experts from trying to decipher what was said between the two. Later Monday, a tweet suggesting that Irving was recruiting Durant to team up together on the New York Knicks also went viral.
“Kyrie Irving has been caught on video saying, ‘two max slots, it’s time’ to Kevin Durant,” read the tweet from @bballforeverfb.
Irving said he is not active on social media — which he referred to as “a fictitious way of just feeling validated in the world” — so he did not see the response to the video. Upon being repeatedly asked about the video, he expressed frustration, calling the situation “stuff that just doesn’t make the league fun.”
“It’s my life, right?” Irving said. “It’s two people talking, having a conversation. If this was the real world, would it be anybody else’s business? It’s a video of somebody assuming what we’re talking about, making an opinion about it, right? So, why would I care about it? Why does it have an impact on my life? Why are you asking me those type of questions?”
The 26-year-old proceeded to go back and forth with a reporter, arguing the intent behind the incessant questioning was for “the likes and clicks.”
Both Irving and Durant can elect to leave their current teams when free agency starts July 1 — and both have been previously tied to the Knicks as well. Irving had announced before the season started that he intends on re-signing with the Celtics, though that decision is certainly subject to change. His chumminess with Durant over All-Star Weekend — he was also the lone player to stick around for the entirety of Durant’s MVP ceremony Sunday — only added fuel to the fire that the two may team up next season, but Irving wanted nothing to do with the speculation.
“Nobody helps promote the league anymore by doing bulls*** like that,” he said. “Putting things on, like, what we’re talking about, it’s crazy.”
