You’d think that Kyrie Irving would have been riding high after dropping a career-high 44 points against the Charlotte Bobcats on Saturday night in overtime, but the Cavs lost, appropriately enough, and it was just the latest setback for the point guard that was the darling of the NBA during last season’s all-star weekend. Now he’s getting into beef with Browns wide receiver Josh Gordon and sending emotive twitter musings about all the “rumors and accusations” surrounding his future in Cleveland.
Here’s Irving almost single-handedly winning it for Cleveland on Saturday with a series of drives, three-pointers, and a little floaters in the lane…
Gordon is friends with Irving’s teammate, Dion Waiters, who is rumored to be butting heads with Irving this season. The two share an apartment complex in Cleveland, and when Gordon was on ESPN’s First Take, he said the Waiters and Irving rift was real, threatening the locker room cohesion, via ESPN:
“I talked about it with Dion,” Gordon told anchor Skip Bayless. “He’s my neighbor in my building, so we hang out all the time. I’m aware of the rift in the locker room. That’s just alpha males and supreme athletes trying to share the spotlight.”
In response, Irving took to Twitter, and told Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal that Gordon should butt out:
“Guys like Josh Gordon need to stay in his sport and mind his own business,” Irving said prior to shootaround Friday morning. “Does he still play for the Browns? I’ll continue to root for the Browns, but in terms of this stuff here, what goes on in this locker room, he needs to stay out of it.”
Gordon, for his part, shot back on Twitter and Instagram when he read about Irving’s comments:
Smh.. ???? think i touched a nerve lmao @dionwaiters3 #racetotheplayoffs? https://t.co/6K3r5mYy5l
— Flash Gordon (@JOSH_GORDONXII) April 6, 2014
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Irving also mentioned the rumors and suppositions surrounding his future in Cleveland, where many believe — buttressed by a recent Q&A ESPN’s Brian Windhorst did with Cavs the Blog where he says Irving’s camp wants out of Cleveland — he’s likely gone when his rookie deal ends in the summer of 2015. This goes double if the Cavs are unable to sign Irving to the max extension they’ll be offering him on July 1 this year.
Sick to my stomach with all these rumors and accusations. Can I play without media guessing at my life and putting B.S out for headlines.
— Kyrie Irving (@KyrieIrving) April 5, 2014
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It brings nothing but negativity to the team and portraying me as something I'm not. I don't want or need the attention, so it can stop now.
— Kyrie Irving (@KyrieIrving) April 5, 2014
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At least be man or woman enough to come and ask me. There's no such source as "Kyrie's camp", nothing but nonsense.
— Kyrie Irving (@KyrieIrving) April 5, 2014
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So not only is Irving battling a teammate, Waiters, but also a Browns wide receiver and the notion he’s probably going to leave in the summer of 2015, if he fails to sign an extension this summer. So, basically, Kyrie Irving has fame, money — and a whole lot more coming when he signs an extension or signs elsewhere in free agency, plus a ton of God-given basketball talent. But that doesn’t necessarily translate to happiness or comfort as his bromides on Twitter showed this past Friday.
Will Kyrie Irving get traded this summer so the Cavs avoid losing him in free agency in the summer of 2015?
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