Since the pandemic hit the world, everyone got affected in some or the other way, but only a few superstar athletes got hit like Kyrie Irving.
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However, it wasn’t the COVID-19 virus that troubled the Brooklyn Nets point guard, it was the vaccine, his stance against taking it, and everything that has followed since.
The 2016 NBA champ couldn’t play even 30 games for a Kevin Durant-led team because of the vaccine mandate and the ban implied on him by the franchise he plays for.
In a more recent event, his sharing a link to a movie that is seen as anti-Semitic again brought him a lot of criticism and a 5-game suspension. This one even felt bigger than the vaccination one, even though that movie has been on sale on Amazon since its release without any repercussions.
The man lost his Nike deal because of the heat he has been consistently receiving despite not saying anything anti-Semitic all this while. Meanwhile, he has been dropping 25 and 30s consistently on the court since his return from the ban, and nobody has appreciated it enough.
Kyrie Irving has been elite both on and off the court despite all the conundrums
The Nets had a rocky start to the 2022-23 season. However, when Irving went into his suspension, they went on a winning run, and everyone had the same question, “does Irving even deserve to be in the championship team anymore?”
But the man has since proven all of us wrong and has helped the Nets win 11 out of the last 14 outings he has featured in.
Not just that, but while he was in the limelight, his charity work couldn’t go unnoticed. And him, donating over $300,000 in the past two months, other than the $500,000, while losing his shoe deal and becoming a villain in the eyes of the media, got noticed by a former Washing Wizards player, Etan Thomas, who called it out with his Tweets.
What happened to everyone who was saying the Nets (and the league) would be better off without Kyrie Irving? Nothing on how well they’ve been playing since his return or since @Nike dropped him? Yall can’t say anything positive about Kyrie Irving? Yall are something else pic.twitter.com/JyQbpIoHYn
— Etan Thomas (@etanthomas36) December 22, 2022
From being a sensational basketball star to becoming a hated figure in multiple communities within 2 years, he has suffered enough for the things he blatantly says unlike any other athlete, and sometimes it gets taken out of context.
It’s time we leave him alone or at least treat him without any prejudice and let him do what he does best. Ball.
Irving has been balling out despite all the missed action
Despite all of the conundrums, Irving has not stopped killing on the court. The 7x All-Star is averaging over 26 points, 4 rebounds, and 4 assists per game in the season while also contributing on the other side of the floor with one block and almost a steal per game.
Now, whether he will be able to keep himself out of trouble for the rest of the season, and help KD and the Nets win a championship, only time will tell. If he fails, it might be the last time a team that would be in contention takes him seriously.
