ESPNNBABy Andrew Bucholtz on

For once, the weirdest things said on ESPN’s First Take didn’t come from Stephen A. Smith or Max Kellerman. Instead, it was new Boston Celtic Kyrie Irving making headlines Monday with an odd appearance that saw him make a bunch of seemingly-nonsensical comments, further his feud with LeBron James, troll Kellerman repeatedly and dodge numerous questions.

The highlight of the whole thing might be this, when Stephen A. Smith asked him about his trade request and media reports of it creating distractions:

Well, Irving certainly has some interesting beliefs, including (apparently) that the earth is flat. (Much to the annoyance of middle-school teachers.) Whether that qualifies as “very much woke” or not is a matter of opinion. But that was just part of the weirdness in this interview. Consider this exchange Irving had with Smith about not speaking to LeBron before asking for a trade:

“Did you speak to LeBron James or talk to LeBron James before you and your representatives met with ownership to let them know you wanted out?” “No.” “Why not?” “Why would I have to?” “If you don’t SPEAK to somebody about it, they might take it personally.” “Yeah.” “Do you care about that at all?” “No.”

And that was just part of Irving’s criticisms of LeBron. After that, he said “There is no time to figure out how to save someone’s feelings when ultimately you have to be selfish in figuring out what you want to do.” (0:40).

When asked “Kobe or LeBron,” Irving said in terms of favorite players, he’d choose his dad and then Kobe:

And when asked if he could win a championship without LeBron, Irving first said “Time will tell,” then “Oh, absolutely” when pressed on what he believed:

Irving also went in on Kellerman for repeatedly asking him about LeBron:

“I made a decision as a man, and as a man over there, Max Kellerman, just respect it and leave it alone.”

But the even more notable event may have been the way Irving constantly avoided questions, which spurred plenty of Twitter reactions:

So, yeah, that’s one of the more unusual First Take segments in a while. And this time around, it’s not because of Smith and Kellerman.

[First Take on Twitter]

About Andrew Bucholtz

Andrew Bucholtz has been covering sports media for Awful Announcing since 2012. He is also a staff writer for The Comeback. His previous work includes time at Yahoo! Sports Canada and Black Press.

View all posts by Andrew Bucholtz

3 thoughts on “Kyrie Irving mocked Max Kellerman during a “very much woke” First Take appearance”

  2. Max asked the questions Kyrie kept dodging Max rightly kept asking and Kyrie acted like a petunlant child.. Honestly if you do not want to answer the questions do not come on the show.. I am glad Max did not tread softly or it would be a joke.. Kyrie does not like Max as Kellerman called him Robin and only really a scorer which thus far has been true and not because of LBJ he did this post LBJ when LBJ is not playing and him not playing defence which everyone agrees on which RPM shows is his choice..

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