Report: Cavs Players Were Upset About a Kyrie Irving Tribute Video
Three championship appearances, one title and a Game 7 game-winner that will go down in NBA lore would, on an island, warrant a tribute video for Kyrie Irving's return to Cleveland. But for some Cavs players, the manner in which Irving left disqualified him from that type of love.
Multiple Cavs players were upset upon learning about the tribute video, which the Cavs planned to show during Irving's return as a member of the Celtics on opening night but decided not to because they could not find "the right moment."
From Cleveland.com's Joe Vardon, who reported that the Cavs players were unhappy with the video:
"According to team spokesman Tad Carper, multiple Cavs officials, including majority owner Dan Gilbert, chose not to show the video because "we were expecting to run it at a floating opportunity based on the right moment, and we felt that moment never presented itself."
Irving was booed heartily when he was introduced by the stadium announcer before the game.
Carper told Cleveland.com that the decision to not show the video was not directly related to the gruesome injury Celtics forward Gordon Hayward suffered in the first quarter. Hayward's left leg bent back under him unnaturally after trying to catch an alley-oop from Irving, and Hayward was initially diagnosed with a fractured left ankle.
After reaching three consecutive finals with the Cavaliers, Irving shocked the NBA world when he requested a trade in July. The next month, Irving was traded to the Celtics in exchange for Isaiah Thomas, Jae Crowder, Ante Zizic, Brooklyn's 2018 first-round pick and a 2020 second-round pick.
