Kyrie Irving is an American professional football player. He plays for the Brooklyn Nets of NBA.
So let’s dive into some trivia and facts about his life and career!
- His full name is Kyrie Andrew Irving
- He was born on March 23, 1992
- He is an American professional basketball player
- He plays for the Brooklyn Nets of the National Basketball Association (NBA)
- He was named NBA Rookie of the Year after being selected by the Cleveland Cavaliers
- With the first overall pick in the 2011 NBA draft
- A six-time NBA All-Star, Irving was selected to the All-NBA Third Team in 2015
- He won an NBA championship with the Cavaliers in 2016
- Irving played college basketball for the Duke Blue Devils before joining the Cavaliers in 2011
- He was named the NBA All-Star Game Most Valuable Player (MVP) in 2014
- In the 2016 NBA Finals, he made a three-point field goal with 53 seconds remaining in a tied Game 7 to help lead the Cavaliers to a championship over the Golden State Warriors
- After losing a rematch against the Warriors in the 2017 Finals, Irving requested a trade and was traded to the Boston Celtics
- After two years with the Celtics, he signed with the Brooklyn Nets as a free agent in 2019
- He has also played for the United States national team, with which he won gold at the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup and the 2016 Summer Olympics
- In 2018, he starred in the film Uncle Drew
- Irving was born on March 23, 1992, in Melbourne, Australia, to American parents
- He is the son of Drederick and Elizabeth Irving, and the stepson of Shetellia Irving
- He has an older sister, Asia, and a younger sister, London
- His father, Drederick, played college basketball at Boston University
- He played alongside Shawn Teague and under coach Rick Pitino
- After completing his college career, Irving’s father moved to Australia to play professionally for the Bulleen Boomers in the SEABL
- Irving lived in the Melbourne suburb of Kew before relocating to the United States when he was two years old
- He holds dual American and Australian citizenship
- His mother, who was half Sioux, died of an illness when he was four
- Drederick raised him along with the help of Irving’s aunts
- Irving grew up in West Orange, New Jersey, where he frequently attended his father’s adult-league games
- His inspiration to play in the NBA came after playing at Continental Airlines Arena during a school trip in fourth grade
- Then he declared, “I will play in the NBA, I promise”
- Due to his father’s connection to Boston University, Irving spent a lot of time in Boston
- Including at BU’s basketball skills camp
- In fifth grade, he was offered a scholarship to Boston University by then-head coach Dennis Wolff
- As a teenager, Irving played for the Road Runners of the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU)
- On July 7, 2019, Irving signed with the Brooklyn Nets in free agency
- On October 23, 2019, Irving debuted for the Nets
- Having a season-high 50 points, 8 rebounds, and 7 assists in a 127–126 overtime loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves
- Becoming the first player in NBA history to score 50 points or more in a team debut
- Irving became the seventh player in franchise history to score 50 points or more in a single game
- He also scored 25 of the Nets’ 56 points in the first half
- In 2012, Irving played the role of Uncle Drew in a series of Pepsi Max advertisements
- He wrote and directed episode 2, in which he starred alongside Bill Russell and Kevin Love
- And episode 3, in which he starred alongside Nate Robinson and Maya Moore
- Irving also wrote and directed episode 4 of “Uncle Drew”, which was released in November 2015
- And in which he starred in alongside Baron Davis, J. B. Smoove, and Ray Allen
- In 2017, the Uncle Drew advertisement series became a skit inside an old school diner featuring Pepsi in its current design, stored in a fridge with its original logo
- Irving has also starred as the character in a feature film, Uncle Drew
- It also features former NBA stars
- It was released in June 2018
- Irving appeared on an episode of the Disney XD series Kickin’ It in 2012
- He guest starred on Family Guy, lending his voice for the season 17 (2018) episode “Big Trouble in Little Quahog”
- Irving’s shoe deal with Nike is worth US$11 million, as of 2019
- His signature sneakers were the second best-selling line of 2017, behind LeBron James’s
- The NPD Group no longer tracks signature sneakers but projected that the trend continued into 2018
- Irving’s themed sneaker collaborations include that of the television shows Friends and SpongeBob SquarePants
- The latter collection sold out immediately
- Irving enjoys reading and has a journal
- He also likes to sing, dance, and play the baritone sax
- His godfather is former NBA player Rod Strickland
- His cousin, Isaiah Briscoe, was a highly rated basketball player who played at the University of Kentucky before declaring for the 2017 NBA draft
- Irving and his ex-girlfriend have a daughter together, Azurie Elizabeth Irving
- She was born on November 23, 2015
- Azurie’s middle name, Elizabeth, was given to her in honor of Irving’s late mother
- In May 2011, Irving made a promise to his father to finish his bachelor’s degree at Duke within five years
- However, in 2016, having not achieved his degree, he claimed he was putting his plans on hold
- In 2015, he launched his PSD Underwear collection
- In November 2016, Irving tweeted his support for the water protectors at the Standing Rock Indian Reservation who were demonstrating against the Dakota Access Pipeline in North Dakota
- Protesters say the pipeline, which crosses under the river and across the region’s aquifer, violates treaty law and sacred burial grounds on the land at Standing Rock
- There is urgent concern that the crude oil passing through the pipeline threatens the safety of the drinking the water supply of not only the Standing Rock community, but that of many surrounding communities, both Native and non-Native
- In August 2018, Irving and his older sister were honored with a “welcome home” ceremony at Standing Rock, acknowledging their family ties to the community
- Irving’s mother was a member of the tribe and lived on the reservation until her adoption at a young age
- Their late grandmother and great-grandparents also have ties to the reservation community
- Starting with the 2016–17 season, Irving moved to more of a plant-based diet
- Which he also referenced in a December 2017 Nike ad
- In February 2017, Irving stated in an interview for a podcast that he believes that the Earth is flat
- In a later interview, he was less forceful in advancing his flat Earth belief, encouraging people to “do their own research” into the topic
- In September 2017, Irving denied these claims and said that media misunderstood him as he was joking
- However, in a June 2018 interview, when asked if he would admit that the world is round he said “I don’t know. I really don’t”
- And added that people should “do [their] own research for what [they] want to believe in” because “Our educational system is flawed”
- In October 2018, Irving apologized for his original flat Earth comments
- Irving also stated that he believes in other conspiracy theories
- Such as the idea that John F. Kennedy was killed by the Federal Reserve, and that the CIA tried to kill Bob Marley
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