Los Angeles Lakers Dennis Schroder revealed the time he had a skirmish with Kyrie Irving where the former was heavily disrespected.
Fox Sports had a featurette that saw Schroder detail the time Irving disrespected him, but also add how the latter earned back his respect.
The two guards got into it two years ago when Irving was still with the Brooklyn Nets. The German felt the mercurial guard was rather unruly and complained to the referees. At one stage, he yelled at Irving:
“C’mon, n***a!”
To which Irving lashed back at him saying:
“You can’t say that! You’re from Germany!”
This saw them go back and forth until both players were ejected. And on his part, Schroder who said he had a lot of respect for Irving didn’t understand the reaction from the latter.
“My first six, seven years I respected him so much because it didn’t matter if he’d bust your ass with a 40-point game or had a quiet game, he was always the same guy, didn’t talk s**t. Then we had that incident in Brooklyn, which surprised me because it was out of nothing. I was shocked. I’m not going to lie. I asked LeBron, ‘Why did he act like that?’ LeBron said, ‘I don’t know, just let it go.’”
Clearly, Irving was not himself and the venom was spewed towards Schroder. But in what demonstrated why the 31-year-old was well-liked in the league despite being a polarizing character, Irving came forward and apologized.
When the Lakers played the Mavericks earlier this year, Schroder went to guard Irving as the Mavericks got the inbound. That’s when Irving said to him:
“I want to apologize. We’ve been going at it for so many years, you know that’s not me.”
“He said he was going through something at the time and that’s why he reacted like that,” Schroder said. “To say that, and you’re such a powerful player? That means everything. We swapped jerseys after that game. I’m right back on the same side I was the first six, seven, years. I respect him as a player and as a human.”
While Irving initially slammed and disrespected Schroder, it’s good to see him make amends. This surely shows true character.
Kyrie Irving’s Future Amid Free Agency Rumors Remains Unclear
While there have been reports that Kyrie Irving might still play for the Dallas Mavericks in the 2023-24 season, there is nothing concrete at the moment as he is heavily linked to multiple teams.
According to NBA insider Chris Haynes, Irving will remain in Dallas this summer. But there have also been reports of the Lakers being in play.
“I don’t think they’ve shut the door completely on Kyrie coming to the Lakers at some point,” said Zach Lowe. “Just because it doesn’t happen this summer, if it doesn’t happen this summer, doesn’t mean it can’t ever happen. I don’t think that door is closed.”
Whether Irving decides to find a new home remains to be seen, but if he does indeed come to LA, there’s going to be a new superteam that will make the Lakers instant title contenders.
We sincerely appreciate and respect you as a reader of our site. It would help us a lot if you follow us on Google News because of the latest update.
Thanks for following us. We really appreciate your support.