A whole lot of people think Brooklyn Nets star Kyrie Irving should be suspended after he promoted an antisemitic film on his Instagram and Twitter accounts, and then proceeded to blast the media during a press conference after being questioned about it. Former NBA stars Charles Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal referred to Irving as “an idiot” Tuesday on TNT’s Inside the NBA, with Barkley repeatedly saying that Irving needs to be suspended, for example.
Instead, Irving was allowed to play during Tuesday’s game against the Chicago Bulls, which was shown nationally on TNT. And he turned in one of the worst performances of his NBA career.
Irving scored just four points in 33 minutes played and was 2-of-12 on field goal attempts in a 108-99 Nets loss (Chicago outscored Brooklyn 31-19 in the fourth quarter). The seven-time All-Star had a game-worst plus/minus of -14.
https://youtu.be/gXd95GFMlD8?t=19
He didn’t even score a point through three quarters.
Kyrie's layup gets blocked by Goran Dragic, leaving Kyrie scoreless on 0/7 shooting through 3 quarters pic.twitter.com/bc0Cxo9Nje
— hoops bot (@hoops_bot) November 2, 2022
It was the first time in Irving’s career that he didn’t score at least five points over at least 24 minutes played.
Tonight is the first time in Kyrie Irving's career that he scored less than 5 points in a game with more than 24 minutes logged.
Kyrie totaled 4 points on 2-of-12 shooting in 32:46 of action tonight vs. Chicago. pic.twitter.com/i2abEgolVJ
— Nets Videos (@SNYNets) November 2, 2022
This all came just hours after the Nets parted ways with head coach Steve Nash. And then reports surfaced that the Nets are likely to hire suspended Celtics coach Ime Udoka. Additionally, Brooklyn general manager Sean Marks said that Irving would not speak with the media on Tuesday night because the Nets “don’t want to cause more fuss right now” and want to let Irving “simmer down.” The drama doesn’t stop with the Nets.
Here’s a look at how the basketball world is reacting to one of the worst performances of Irving’s career:
Kyrie Irving finishes w/ 4 points (2-12 shooting) in loss to Bulls.
– His lowest point total in 111 games w/ Nets
– He's scored fewer than 4 points just 5 times in 619-game career
– Sean Marks: Irving won't speak to media until he "simmers down" following antisemitism controversy pic.twitter.com/xeSBEyspCv— Ben Golliver (@BenGolliver) November 2, 2022
Kyrie tonight:
4 PTS
2-12 FG
0-6 3PHis fewest points in a game as a Net. pic.twitter.com/feds2Ndcuz
— StatMuse (@statmuse) November 2, 2022
Kyrie Irving tonight:
• 33 MIN
• 4 PTS
• 2-12 FGM
• 0-6 3PM
• 7 REB
• 6 AST
• 1 BLK
• L#NetsWorld pic.twitter.com/aAO1R0FbxW— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) November 2, 2022
Kyrie Irving tonight vs. the Bulls:
4 points 2-of-12 FG
6 rebounds 0-of-6 3PT
7 assists pic.twitter.com/ruNbM7nDx3— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) November 2, 2022
The Brooklyn Nets spent $445,158 tonight on Kyrie Irving to score 4 points on 2-12 shooting.
— Pro Pels Talk (@ProPelsTalk) November 2, 2022
Kyrie Irving vs. the Bulls:
4 points
7 assists
6 rebounds
2-12 FG
0-6 3PTMeanwhile, Ben Simmons: pic.twitter.com/tx3IbqiyA0
— NBA Memes (@NBAMemes) November 2, 2022
