The Cavaliers decided to not run a tribute video of Kyrie Irving during his return to Cleveland as a member of the Celtics.
After spending the first six seasons of his NBA career with the Cavaliers, Irving engineered a trade to Boston during the offseason. As coincidence would have it, the Celtics played the Cavaliers on Tuesday in the first game of the new season.
Not surprisingly, Irving was booed during player introductions and throughout the game when he possessed the basketball. While many at Quicken Loans Arena didn’t show their appreciation for Irving, the Cavaliers were expected to via a tribute video.
That did not happen, as the team elected to not show video. According to The Athletic’s Jason Lloyd, the Cavaliers said the moment “never presented itself.”
Cavs will not run Kyrie Irving tribute video tonight. It was a floating moment and team says that moment never presented itself
— Jason Lloyd (@JasonLloydNBA) October 18, 2017
Cleveland.com’s Joe Vardon later reported that some Cavs players were upset about the planned tribute video for Irving since he requested a trade.
On Monday, it was reported the Cavaliers had a video prepared for their former All-Star. It’s unclear at this time why the video was not played, although the atmosphere surrounding the game changed following the injury to Gordon Hayward.
