Kyrie Irving made his long-awaited return to the court on Wednesday in a duel between his Brooklyn Nets and the disappointing Indiana Pacers at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
The visitors took care of business, handing the Pacers a 129-121 win in Kyrie’s first game back on the floor. The 2016 NBA champion showed interesting things in 32 minutes of action, drawing good reactions from fans, who are convinced this team is championship bound.
On Wednesday night, everybody had something to say about Kyrie, including one of his biggest detractors, NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal. The Big Diesel has been very active talking about Kyrie, urging the Nets to trade him for not getting the vaccine.
Before the player made his debut, he shared a Michael Jordan meme describing how Kyrie must have felt when he learned the Nets allowed him to be a part-time player. After that, Shaq shared a House of Highlights post with a tweet saying Kyrie was a top-3 point guard of all time.
While many people disagree with that notion, Shaq shared the post with his followers, not agreeing or disagreeing with it, just sharing it.
As you may know, O’Neal is a big fan of debates and he doesn’t hesitate to spark some with his fans. He’s done it in the past, and seeing how controversial this take is, he took his chance and generated a big debate around the community.
For many people, Magic Johnson and Isaiah Thomas are the best point guards in NBA history. Some could say Stephen Curry has surpassed them both, but let’s stay with Magic and Zeke here.
Does this mean Kyrie is better than Curry? Chris Paul? Oscar Robertson? We don’t know. That depends on what players the person behind the tweet included on their list. Shaq only shared the post waiting to get a reaction from fans, and he got it.
Irving finished his first game back with 22 points, 3 rebounds and 4 assists. He’ll play his second game next week when the Nets visit the Chicago Bulls in a high-flying matchup at United Center.
