Kyrie Irving is resurrecting an issue from over seven months ago.
The Brooklyn Nets guard spoke with reporters following the team’s loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday and reflected on the adversity that the team has faced. Irving spoke about the ankle injury that he suffered in last year’s second-round playoff series against the Milwaukee Bucks and said that Giannis Antetokounmpo’s foot “just happened to be in the way,” per Kristian Winfield of the New York Daily News.
Irving used finger quotes when he said it, which you can see in the video of his comments (at the 3:00 mark).
The seven-time All-Star Irving sprained his ankle in Game 4 of the series when he stepped on Antetokounmpo’s foot. Irving was going up for a shot and landed on Antetokounmpo, who had come up over to try to track the ball (video here). Irving did not play again for the rest of the series, which the Nets narrowly lost to the Bucks in overtime of the seventh game.
Virtually no one, other than perhaps Nets fans, thought that there was any intent on Antetokounmpo’s part. We have seen such unfortunate injuries happen countless times in the NBA. But Irving, even all these months later, obviously believes that Antetokounmpo purposefully injured him. The two players did have some history before the incident, so maybe that explains why Irving still won’t let the issue go.
