Kyrie Irving’s never-ending feud with the media resurfaced when Boston Celtics guard Jrue Holiday was ranked higher than Uncle Drew.
ESPN issued their latest player rankings list for the 2023-24 NBA season, and Irving was notably absent. Irving plainly took issue with the move, whether it was motivated by spite, deception, or was simply wrong. The Dallas Mavericks guard and former Celtic was ranked 34th, while Holiday was ranked 26th.
This spurred Irving to respond online mere hours later.
“Who… cares?” I will never do so. Rankings don’t mean anything in the league, especially if they come from ESPN or any of these other media outlets. “The majority of the analysts are not credible sources in my opinion, and I don’t respect them or their opinions,” Irving said on Instagram on Wednesday.
To be sure, Holiday’s only advantage — defense — isn’t always enough to overcome Irving’s Hall-of-Fame scoring repertoire. There isn’t a better ball-handler or rim finisher in the game than Irving, so doubting the motivation behind ESPN’s rankings is understandable.
On the other hand, as Irving put it at the start of his outburst, who cares?
Player rankings and video game ratings are the most pointless arguments that, for some reason, survive to the next season. For a group of “not credible” media people, their perspectives never fail to register on Irving’s radar and, in many circumstances, elicit a response.
Both All-Star guards will face off for the first time next year when the Mavericks play the Celtics on January 22.
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