Kyrie Irving has stepped into the mud with Dave Portnoy.
Portnoy, the founder of Barstool Sports, has been laying into Irving since even before the point guard left the Celtics to join the Nets in the 2019 offseason, writing a blog entitled “I Have A Confession To Make – I Hate Kyrie Irving” during the 2019 season as Irving and the Celtics began careening toward divorce.
The latest development came when The Athletic’s Shams Charania reported that Irving has been in contact with former teammate LeBron James about potentially linking up on the Mavericks.
In response to this news, Portnoy tweeted eight clown emojis and wrote, “It’s amazing how many seemingly intelligent people fall for the Kyrie scam.”
Hours later, Irving responded.
“Make sure you’re taking care of yourself David,” he tweeted. “You can only run your mouth for so long before Karma catches up. Be well.”
Irving’s tweet included a GIF of rapper Jack Harlow, with the caption, “You gotta bring your ‘A’ game.”
Portnoy was unconcerned with karmic retribution, and tweeted a GIF of a fake-scared Bill Murray from the movie “Kingpin.”
Sunday night, as the Heat were in the middle of upsetting the Nuggets in Denver in Game 2 of the NBA Finals, Portnoy used the opportunity to take shots at Irving.
“How can you not respect the Heat? They do everything the right way. It’s the opposite of Kyrie’s NBA where stars refuse to play, complain about everything, force trades and destroy teams only to have owners go gaga over them for no reason,” Portnoy tweeted.
“Meanwhile the Heat have 3 undrafted players. Everybody shows up. Nobody complains. They play hard. And are in the Finals … The god damn Heat. Maybe more Gm’s should pay attention to how these guys win rather than bending over for the Kyrie’s of the world.”
Portnoy has also promoted a shirt from the Barstool Sports store that is in Celtics colors and has the following enemy names listed: Putin, ISIS, Kim Jong-Un, Kyrie.
Irving forced his way off the Nets in a trade this past season, and the Mavericks ultimately slid out of playoff contention after he arrived.
Irving is currently a free agent and has said he will take his time making a decision about where he plays next season.