Kyrie Irving’s ‘Dare To Be Different’ Quote Sparked Some Hilarious Jokes

Kyrie Irving is headed back to Brooklyn, at least for now, as the star guard was given permission to seek out a sign-and-trade opportunity but found very few takers outside of L.A. As such, Irving picked up his player option worth $36.5 million, which means he’s going to be playing out his final year with the Nets and then hitting free agency next summer — or, he’ll be traded anytime between now and the deadline.

Because this is Kyrie Irving, he had to issue a deep statement about how he was picking up his player option rather than declining it and taking the taxpayer mid-level in L.A. that’s worth just over $6 million.

Irving saying he’s the type to “dare to be different” certainly is backed up by his history, but it’s also objectively funny to say not turning down $30 million is somehow the rebellious approach here as opposed to what literally everyone else would do in this situation if presented with the same number of options as Irving — which are, by all accounts, his player option, the TPMLE in L.A., or a short-term extension for not-max money in Brooklyn. Naturally, Irving’s effort at being deep about all of this led to NBA Twitter turning his quote into a rather hilarious meme for the night.

https://twitter.com/JonAtTheBar/status/1541571265030414336