The NBA season got off to a bang, as the Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Boston Celtics, 102-99. The game was setting up for a dramatic ending, as Kyrie Irving got the chance to drill a game-tying shot as time expired against his former team. Unfortunately for him, it didn’t go in, and the Cavs came out on top.
Immediately after the ball hit the ground and the buzzer went off, Irving hugged the nearest Cavalier in his vicinity. That happened to be LeBron James.
Respect.#KiaTipOff17 pic.twitter.com/BieOoRG7ZF
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) October 18, 2017
With how much perceived drama their was with Irving’s departure from Cleveland, particularly with regards to his relationship with James, watching the two do a handshake and hug was really cool to see.
James wasn’t the only member of the Cavaliers to show Irving love after the game, though. Once he was done dapping up the best basketball player in the world, Irving went to go find four of his former teammates and embrace them, too: Tristan Thompson, Kevin Love, J.R. Smith, and Channing Frye.
Kyrie dapping up Tristan, Kevin, JR, and Channing pic.twitter.com/0cwdSsQrRK
— CJ Fogler account may or may not be notable (@cjzero) October 18, 2017
Sure, Irving’s split from the Cavaliers could have been way more smooth, but at the end of the day, he was close to everyone in Cleveland for years. As we saw during James and Isaiah Thomas’ reactions to Gordon Hayward’s injury, some things really are more important than basketball, and watching Irving hug his former teammates is further proof of that.
