Love to Hate: Kyrie Irving

Kyrie Irving is recognized as a box office superstar in the NBA, admired for his captivating on-court skills such as step-backs and layups, which he honed from a young age without proper equipment. However, his career has been overshadowed by off-court controversies that have frequently disrupted his availability and public image.

Since being drafted, Irving has made a series of controversial statements, including promoting conspiracy theories like the flat Earth theory in a 2017 podcast and discussing moon landings in 2018, for which he later apologized without retracting the claims. Additionally, he broke a promise to re-sign with the Boston Celtics in the 2018-19 season, opting instead to join Kevin Durant in forming a superteam with the Brooklyn Nets.

During his time with the Nets, Irving's controversies continued; he refused COVID-19 vaccination in the 2021-22 season, rendering him ineligible for home games and limiting his play to away matches. He further faced backlash for tweeting a link to an antisemitic film in 2022, leading to an indefinite suspension from the Nets without pay and the termination of his partnership with Nike. These actions contributed to the dissolution of the 'Big 3' with Durant and James Harden, as they played together in only 16 games, largely due to Irving's unreliability.

A "Hate Index" analysis of Reddit posts over five years revealed that Irving scores 0.293, with the most negative sentiment coming from Celtics and Cleveland Cavaliers subreddits, likely due to his departures from those teams. Despite this, Irving revitalized his career with the Dallas Mavericks, helping lead them to the finals in 2024, demonstrating that his brilliance and controversy remain intertwined.