Mavs star Kyrie Irving claims he is not a ‘free’ man and denies rhetoric that he is ‘the one cancer’ in NBA locker rooms in wide-ranging Twitch stream
Controversial NBA star Kyrie Irving has hit out at fans and the media in a rambling 67-minute Twitch stream, including a rebuke of him being ‘the one cancer’ in NBA locker rooms and his perceived lack of freedom.
The Dallas Mavericks superstar has regularly courted controversy during his time in the league, and on Thursday he spoke out about ‘not being a free man’.
‘How am I free if I know my people aren’t free in Africa? How am I free if I know my Indigenous people are not free in Australia?,’ he said in a clip of the stream posted to Twitter.
‘How am I free if I know if I know kids are still working on the cobalt mines in Congo, making Teslas?’
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Irving was born in Melbourne, Australia before moving back to the United States, aged two. He is known to have Native American and African ancestry.
Kyrie Irving appeared on Twitch in the early hours of Thursday morning after a Dallas defeat
The one-time NBA champion discussed his exits from Boston, Cleveland and Brooklyn before opening up on his disagreement with positioning of him as a lone bad apple on any given team.
”What’s Ky gonna do this summer? Does Ky like Dallas? What happened in Brooklyn? What happened in Boston? What happened in Cleveland?,”’ Irving said in a voice mimicking commentary about him.
”Why did you leave LeBron? … Why did you leave all of these people?’ … Me, you would think I’m the cancer in the locker room, as if basketball is an individual sport that one person is supposed to take blame for.
‘It’s 15 guys on the team, and I’m the one cancer in the room? That’s what it’s portrayed as, that’s what you guys get that’s what they have fun doing. That’s why these older, bitter gentlemen and women keep my name in their mouths every day.’
Irving was deeply philosophical and also addressed the public perception of him, once more criticizing reporters.
‘If you go based off of what other people say, you would think that I’m this or I’m that. … Because guess who gets to tell my narrative before I even get to say anything? The very people that we depend on for the news.
‘The very people who have bitter, older individuals, reporting on people they barely know. Saying things to the public to make you think that I’m a certain type of way.
Kyrie Irving has played well and seemed to be in positive spirits since a trade to the Mavericks
He and Kevin Durant looked on course to challenge the top of the East prior to their trades
‘Why is that? Why do they want to make me seem like I’m a certain type of way, when I’m just explaining to people that I have a devotion to my family?
‘I have a devotion to the creator, I have a devotion to ancestors. And I have a devotion to the revolution that my people have put forth before me. I’m a tribal man. I’m a chief.
‘My name is Hélà. I’m a native indigenous African man, striving to do better for my people. Why am I a target?’
Irving has been a hot topic throughout the NBA season, not only for his move to Dallas from Brooklyn, but for being released by Nike after posting a link to an Amazon documentary which has widely been labeled anti-Semitic.
Irving creatively covered the swoosh in the All-Star Game, months after the partnership ended
