Former NBA player Dzanan Musa played alongside Kyrie Irving on the Brooklyn Nets, and that proved to be quite an experience for him. Musa recently appeared on the 6.75range podcast, where he spoke about Irving burning sage in the Nets locker room before practice.
“Kyrie is a guy who lives in his own movie,” Musa said. “You can be there, but he’s still doing his own thing, regardless of the fact that you’re teammates and supposed to play together. For example, before every practice, he would burn sage. We weren’t allowed to enter the locker room until he drove away the evil spirits. I didn’t agree with it, of course, but Kyrie is Kyrie. What was I supposed to say? Tell him to leave?”
When you’re the star player, you can get away with doing all this. To be fair to Irving, it is not like he was doing something that was dangerous.
Burning sage is an ancient ritual that has been practiced by some Native American groups for years. It involves the burning of sacred herbs for spiritual cleansing.
Irving’s mother, Elizabeth Ann Larson, was, of course, of Native American descent. Elizabeth was born into the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and was a member of the Lakota community. She tragically passed away due to an illness when Irving was just four years old. He was determined to stay in touch with his roots despite her absence and was officially welcomed into the tribe back in 2018.
Irving joined the Nets in 2019, so it might not be all too surprising that he was performing these rituals at the time. It’s unclear if he performs them today as well.
Musa had gone to the Nets a year before Irving, after they selected him with the 29th pick in the 2018 NBA Draft. The Bosnian had impressed during his time in Europe, but failed to replicate that success in the NBA.
Musa would average just 4.3 points, 1.9 rebounds, 0.9 assists, and 0.3 steals per game for the Nets in two seasons. They traded him to the Detroit Pistons in November 2020, and he was waived in December. Musa then returned to Europe, where he most notably suited up for Real Madrid. He won the EuroLeague with the Spanish giants in 2023 and currently plays for Dubai Basketball.
As for Irving, he’d be with the Nets for a couple more years, but they’d prove to be rather chaotic. His burning sage was nothing compared to what was to come.
Irving famously refused to take the COVID-19 vaccine, which caused quite a stir. New York City had a vaccine mandate at the time, which meant he wasn’t allowed to play home games for the Nets at the start of the 2021-22 season. They chose not to play him away from home either, but an injury crisis meant he was brought back into the fold.
The vaccine mandate would eventually be relaxed in March 2022, which finally made Irving eligible to play at home. The Nets would have hoped the drama ended right there, but worse was yet to come.
In October 2022, Irving posted a link on Twitter to a film deemed antisemitic. He refused to back down despite being called out for it and was suspended by the Nets. Nike would also cut ties with the guard, and you wondered what the future held for him.
A parting of ways between Irving and the Nets had seemed inevitable after all this, and he would reportedly hand in a trade request in February 2023. He was sent to the Dallas Mavericks before the trade deadline to put an end to an era that would be remembered for all the wrong reasons.
The Mavericks were thought to be taking a big risk by acquiring Irving, but he has been a model citizen, for the most part, in Dallas. The 33-year-old has made the headlines for the right reasons, like when he helped build a school in Congo for a community bombarded by rebel groups.
We haven’t seen Irving in action for a while, though. The nine-time All-Star tore his ACL back in March 2025 and is still rehabbing.
