Kyrie Irving feels that the average New Yorker supports the Brooklyn Nets … and not the team across the bridge, the New York Knicks.
Kyrie Irving is buying-in right away …
… into the Brooklyn Nets‘ rivalry with the New York Knicks, at least.
In a recent presser with multiple reporters after Tuesday’s practice at the HSS Center, Kyrie Irving let off some pretty inflammatory words regarding the general fanship within the New York area.
"The same people that have supported New York basketball are still here and they support the Brooklyn Nets now" – Kyrie Irving pic.twitter.com/6XGdPlgnun
— SNY (@SNYtv) October 22, 2019
“Brooklyn’s a place where they’ve built up everything around here, different residents are in here now. It’s just a different culture,” Irving explained. “But the same people that have supported New York basketball are still here and they support the Brooklyn Nets now. It’s just a respect thing. If you can play, they’ll respect you.”
New York has long been a Knicks town; their young rival upstart has only been in the Brooklyn area since 2012. However, in adding Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant, the team is certainly taking the right steps toward gaining, I guess, ‘the pull’ over NYC.
Irving himself grew up a fan of the Nets back when the team was located in New Jersey and stated in that same interview that he “dreamed of playing for his hometown team.” Kyrie is coming off a tremendous season in which he averaged 23.8 points, 6.9 assists and five rebounds as a member of the Boston Celtics.
Surely, these surly words will be remembered by members of the New York Knicks franchise and definitely their fans.
As a reminder, both New York teams face off on Friday, Oct. 25 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.