Kyrie Irving was back in Boston on Wednesday which would have been his first game back since leaving in the offseason. Of course, Irving was injured so he didn't actually get to play. Celtics fans showered him with boos and "Kyrie sucks" chants which ended up weighing heavily on his soul. After the match, Irving took to Instagram where he issued a lengthy statement about how basketball is pure entertainment and that fans take it way too seriously without thinking of the consequences of their actions.
Stephen A. Smith of ESPN's First Take took exception to Irving's response and decided to go off on the Brooklyn Nets star. As he explained, Irving should have known this treatment was coming and that it all could have been avoided has he played.
“Fans don’t particularly care to hear about that when you’re not playing. If you’re playing and you’re performing but there are other things going on, fans will rally behind you because you went out there and did your job and it throws off all this internal adversity that’s going on,” Stephen A. said. “But when you’ve missed your seventh straight game…I think it’s important that Kyrie Irving and his supporters recognize the fact that the fans in Boston were booing you…because you said you wanted to be back…[and] when you left.”
Kyrie's tenure in Brooklyn has been rocky thus far and this just adds insult to injury. With a few more seasons left on his contract, this Kyrie saga is about to get even more interesting.