Detroit Pistons head coach Monty Williams says ESPN having Kyrie Irving at 34th in their player rankings is going to spell trouble for the rest of the NBA.
“I always crack up when people disrespect great players,” Williams said. “[Last year] it was Russell [Westbrook] and now it’s Kyrie. You know, they put out those silly rankings and I’ve just got to laugh at that. They’re gonna start that dude up, man. He’s gonna tear some people up this year to prove them wrong.”
The Pistons, unfortunately, got a taste of that when they took on the Dallas Mavericks on Friday. In 27 minutes, Irving had 17 points, 8 rebounds, 11 assists, 2 steals, and a block, as the Mavericks won 114-104. Kyrie is capable of ripping apart any defense, and if he has additional motivation, it does spell trouble for the rest of the league.
Kyrie Irving Reacted To ESPN Ranking Him At 34th
As for how Irving is taking being ranked too low, he’d like you to believe it isn’t something that bothers him. On Instagram, Kyrie reacted to ESPN analysts ranking him at 34th.
“Who. TF. cares. I Never will. Rankings don’t mean a damn thing in the league, especially not from ESPN or any of these other media platforms. Majority of the analysts are not credible sources in my eyes and I don’t respect them or their opinions.”
We often hear players say how they don’t care about rankings, but deep down most of them do. If he didn’t care at all, Irving had no reason to react to these rankings.
For those unaware, these rankings are based on projections for the 2023-24 season. It doesn’t matter what you did last season, as the focus for the ESPN experts is on what they expect from the player in this upcoming campaign.
Even when you take that into account, I do believe the 31-year-old is ranked a bit too low. Kyrie averaged 27.1 points, 5.1 rebounds, 5.5 assists, 1.1 steals, and 0.8 blocks per game last season, and I have no reason to believe his numbers are going down. I don’t think there are 33 players in the league who can put up comparable numbers, so he should be higher.
Also, as this is a projection, I do expect the Mavericks to be better this season. They struggled after trading for Kyrie last season, but with him now having a preseason with them under his belt, I expect the Mavs to win more this time around. If I had to rank Kyrie, he’d probably be somewhere in the top 20.
Kyrie Irving Is Unhappy With His NBA 2K24 Ratings Too
It is not just ESPN that has incurred Irving’s wrath, but 2K as well. Kyrie is unhappy with his NBA 2K24 ratings after they gave him an overall of 90. The eight-time All-Star felt many of his ratings like three-pointers, playmaking, and layups should have been higher.
Well, he certainly does have a lot of people to prove wrong and can do so by dominating on the court. If Irving can just stay out of trouble and focus on basketball, he is fully capable of it as well. History has shown us, though, that it is a lot easier said than done.
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