Kyrie Irving spoke about the criticism surrounding his Brooklyn Nets teammate, Ben Simmons, and stressed building an environment conducive for the players this season.
Simmons has been in the spotlight since the time he passed up the opportunity to take a shot against in the Philadelphia 76ers’ second-round loss in the 2021 playoffs. After infamously passing up an open dunk, the point guard garnered flak from his former team and on social media.
Rushing to his defense is Irving, whose future with the Nets was one of the buzzing off-season topics. Speaking to ESPN, the guard spoke about the advice he had for the under-fire Simmons, while also adding that it was his responsibility to protect him.
“He’s a human being so he’s going to respond his way. And he’s going to deal with things his way and we have to honor and respect that. That’s what people with integrity do. Not everyone lives by those same moral principles so yeah, as a leader, I feel like it’s my responsibility to protect him, but I also must understand he has to go through things on his own. And when he asks for help, just be there for him.”
He further added:
“I don’t want to say I have all the answers figured out myself because it’s an ongoing battle myself, just dealing with those ebbs and flows. But for him, I just don’t want to see him get caught up in the same nonsense.”
It was a rather tumultuous year for Irving as well after he missed more than half the season for the Nets after refusing to comply with New York’s vaccine mandate, but his team has been vocal in their praise for the 30-year-old.
The Criticism Towards Ben Simmons Continued Ahead Of the 2022-23 Season
Recently, a video of Simmons air balling a shot went viral on social media and saw fans take their dig at the 26-year-old.
And for the guard, the criticism “finds him all the time.” Speaking to ESPN after their preseason game against the Milwaukee Bucks, he expressed how the constant criticism doesn’t necessarily stop.
“Even the other day there was a clip of me air balling a shot at the park. Meanwhile, like 10 guys airballed multiple shots. So it’s like people will find one clip and try to make it that everything – like Ben can’t do this or that. Like come on man, you think I’m just airballing every shot? It’s not true. But it comes with it, and you got to have tough skin and I realize that, but nah, I can’t take everything personally. It’s social media.”
Irving, Simmons, and the Nets know that the spotlight will always shine brighter on their achievements on the court, but will brickbats will be just as intense if one of the decorated trio that includes Kevin Durant fails. They open their season on October 19 against the New Orleans Pelicans where Simmons will play his first regular-season game for the first time in 16 months.
