Kyrie Irving refuses to meet with media, issues statement to ‘make sure my message gets across properly’



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It was vintage Kyrie Irving, not just unconventional but not at all convention-conscious. In a statement on Friday afternoon, the Nets point guard released a statement instead of answering questions from the beaten Nets writers …

Irving has not said whether he will speak to the media before or after games this season. The final line provided some ambiguity about his plans for the future, stating, “Life has hit differently this year and it forces us, it forces me, to move differently. So this is the beginning of this change. ”

Media contact is required of players as part of the standard player contract. He and the Nets can be fined if he doesn’t. The NBA requires that active players be made available to journalists for training and games.

Irving’s relationship with the media has always been strained, dating back to his days in Cleveland, when he said the world was flat, which he later said was a joke and apologized. In Boston, there were similar head shots on a number of issues, with the Celtics disappointing after negotiating for him. When he gave up his contract at the end of the 2018-19 season, media noted how, in October 2018, he had promised to stay.

Then, in the last few months alone, there have been more instances of tension. He suggested that the writers unfairly take up comments he made that Kevin Durant is the first teammate he can see as “the best option. It was seen by experts as a slap in the face to LeBron James. Irving took to Instagram soon after and called reading his comments a “false story” created for a “clickbait company.”

Irving was also criticized, once again feeling he was unfair, for his comments regarding the collaborative nature of coaching, saying, “KD could be a head coach; I could be a head coach. “.

Earlier this summer, there was controversy over his comments on social justice and the “bubble”. The media said he had advocated a boycott of the “bubble”, while others, including his teammate and union vice president Garrett Temple, suggested it was all part of a debate between players on how they should protest the murder of George Floyd and other black men and women by police.

Today’s statement came as the Nets and other NBA teams conducted “Media Week,” remote interviews with players at training centers. Already this week. reporters, including those from NetsDaily, spoke to Durant, Spencer Dinwiddie, DeAndre Jordan, Jarrett Allen, Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot, Jeff Green and Tyler Johnson.

“Media Week” has replaced the annual Media Day, where each player speaks to journalists for a day at team training centers. Due to the pandemic, this has been changed to “Media Week”.

There is no word yet from the Nets, the NBA, or the Professional Basketball Writers Association.

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