‘Uncle Drew’ Is Somehow Even Better After Becoming An NBA Champion

Kyrie Irving is having a pretty good summer. He’s less than two weeks removed from his first NBA Finals win, during which he knocked down a clutch three-pointer in Game 7 to help deliver the city of Cleveland its first championship in more than 50 years. He’s been burning the candle at both ends pretty much nonstop ever since, and good for him. He’s young, mega-rich, and surrounded by scantily-clad women. He’s basically living out every 24-year-old’s fantasy.

But somewhere along the way, he made time to shoot a new Uncle Drew spot for Pepsi, which debuted on YouTube Tuesday, appropriately titled “Champions are Born Out of the Fire.” Unlike other Uncle Drew spots that feature him schooling a bunch of young bloods in a pickup game, this brief commercial is dedicated to the mundane, daily work that goes into becoming great at something. It’s a fitting coda to the Cavs’ recent victory.

Now, Irving can turn his attention to the next challenge, which will be to helm a somewhat undermanned Team USA at the Rio Olympics this summer and lead them to gold. A first-place finish in Rio would be a spectacular end to what’s already shaping up to be the best year of Irving’s young career.

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