During the last season, Kyrie Irving faced backlash for his actions that led to his teammate James Harden leaving the team, causing a major shift for a potential championship-winning squad.
This season, Kyrie sparked more controversy by sharing a link to a film with alleged antisemitic content. Despite initially refusing to apologize, Kyrie eventually did so after facing a five-game suspension. He now has to work to regain his team’s trust and return to the court.
According to Twitter data collected from 100,000 geotagged tweets since the NBA season began, Kyrie Irving emerges as the most disliked NBA player in 28 states in the US. LeBron James, Kyrie’s former teammate, follows with being disliked in 17 states, while Ben Simmons, another teammate, is disliked in three states. Kevin Durant and Draymond Green each garnered dislike in one state.
Irving, who is 30 years old and putting up impressive stats averaging 26.9 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 5.1 assists, is earning $36.9 million in the final year of his contract.
Interestingly, the Brooklyn Nets performed significantly better without Irving on the court. In the games he played, they won only 2 out of 8, ranking 18th in offense and 29th in defense. In his absence, the team has won 4 out of 5 games, moving up to 7th in offense and holding the top defensive ranking.
