“Unc at 32 Is Crazy”: Kyrie Irving Expresses Disbelief Over Teammates’ Nickname for Him

When it comes to the younger generation, Kyrie Irving is one of the OGs. Even in the Mavericks squad, Kyrie is one of the oldest players, so he’s the go-to veteran for a lot of guys. The only players older than him are Klay Thompson and Markeiff Moriss. With age comes wisdom they say, but in Irving’s case, with age comes an embarrassing nickname.

He spoke to Cassidy Hubbarth about it, claiming his teammates call him “unc” because he’s spent 14 years in the league. However, unlike his draftmates, Irving only played one season of college ball, which means he’s younger than the average 2011 draftee.

He pointed this out to Hubbarth, claiming his teammates calling him “unc” is crazy to him.

Kyrie's been in the league for 14 years and his teammates let him know 😂

(via @CassidyHubbarth) pic.twitter.com/xo8pGKaTa4

— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) January 25, 2025

But this isn’t the first time he’s been called that, and it isn’t the first time he’s objected to it either. During streaming sensation Kai Cenat’s Mafiathon 2, Kyrie made a surprise appearance and had a few choice words for Cenat when he referred to him as “unc.”

Kai Cenat also called Kyrie Irving “Unc”

Unc is a sign of respect given from the younger generation to the older generation, but seeing as he’s only 32, Kyrie thinks it’s crazy that someone would use that term on him. Kyrie was good-natured about the whole thing, and he seemed to genuinely be having fun on the stream with Kai Cenat and his friends.

“Look, the only thing about this generation now is the vocabulary. When you call somebody Unc in their 30s while we’re still getting after it in our own way … come on bro.”

Part of the “Unc” nickname may derive from Kyrie playing Uncle Drew, a 70-year-old man with insane basketball skills, in a series of Pepsi commercials that later became its own movie. The Uncle Drew character debuted 12 years ago when Kyrie was early in his career, and he’s still going strong all these years later, as he just helped the Dallas Mavericks get to the NBA Finals last year.