Kyrie Irving has never been shy about speaking his mind, and in a recent livestream, the Mavericks star made it clear that one name will forever remain untouched in his book: Kobe Bryant.
Irving didn’t just praise the late legend, he laid down a line in the sand between real fans and what he sees as lazy revisionist critics, all while defending Kobe’s legacy with the kind of fire only someone who truly understood the “Mamba Mentality” could.
“I’m not letting people come on and talk about Kobe, like Kobe wasn’t one of the best that not only played, but that came in as a 17-year-old against grown men. And by the time this man was 22 years old, he had a few championships, and he was busting the best of the best’s a**.”
“If y’all don’t knock that shit off… I’m talking to y’all at home, the f***ing media talking heads, the ones that casually throw names around, like, bro, if you don’t knock it off. You weren’t like that. It’s okay. Not everybody could be Kobe. Not everybody could wear those size, y’know what I mean, those size shoes that he had.”
“Yeah, I’m not going into detail about this, because what’s said on the internet and in the digital space is said. It’s the internet. But when it comes to real respect and real recognizing real, this man, Kobe Bean Bryant, is immortalized not just because of his basketball.”
“That’s what I’m trying to tell y’all. Like, this man… he is way bigger because of the character. Because of what we witnessed him go through. We didn’t care about certain failures. The real Kobe fans didn’t care about the failures. They didn’t care about the naysayers.”
“The real Kobe fans, the real Mamba fans that I’m talking to, didn’t care about who he was competing with. We know who f***ed with Kobe and who didn’t. I know who f***ed with Kobe and who didn’t. I’m not gonna say I knew Kobe the best at all. I won’t say that.”
“You know? I’m not gonna disrespect all his relationships. I’m not gonna do that. But what I will say is, put respect. Put respect where it’s due, y’all.”
“We know who Kobe f***ed with.”
Kyrie’s monologue didn’t just defend Kobe’s legacy, it highlighted how the modern media age can distort memory, especially for players who are no longer here to defend themselves. In an era where “GOAT” debates dominate every Twitter thread and sports talk segment, Kyrie doesn’t want any part of it.
It’s fitting. For Irving, Kobe wasn’t just one of the greats, he was the blueprint. A legend whose legacy doesn’t need defending, but if it comes to that, Kyrie’s always ready to pick up the mic and do it himself.
