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Dallas Mavericks: Kyrie Irving Reacts to ‘Locker Room Cancer’ Narrative

Originally posted on Hardwood Heroics | By Paolo Songco | Last updated 4/19/24

Kyrie Irving is a bad teammate. This has been the narrative hounding the Dallas Mavericks superstar for what feels like the better part of his career.

Everything seems fine in Dallas right now, though, and Luka Doncic has had nothing but good things to say about his superstar teammate.

At this point, it appears that Kyrie has a real opportunity to finally put all those nasty storylines to bed.

Dallas Mavericks News: Kyrie Irving Keeps It Real

Kyrie was faced with this subject again in a recent interview. The 32-year-old got brutally honest about these malicious rumors as he expressed how he’s already learned to cope with all of it. What gets on his nerves, however, is if these storylines start affecting his team and his teammates:

“Somehow I was called a chaos agent,” he said. “… There was this narrative that I’m a locker room cancer… I didn’t want to be the butt of anyone’s joke. I don’t mind [it]… But not at the expense of my teammate’s success and our success as an organization.”

“Somehow I was called a chaos agent…There was this narrative that I’m a locker room cancer… I didn’t want to be the butt of anyone’s joke. I don’t mind [it]… But not at the expense of my teammate's success and our success as an organization.”

Kyrie Irving on his perception ️… pic.twitter.com/KLrs6auqae

— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) April 18, 2024

Irving is characterized by most in the media as the bad guy, which is a myth that has been debunked by his own teammates multiple times. To a certain extent, it has become a bit of a Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde situation.

Clearly, what matters the most for Kyrie is what his teammates think and feel about him. Everything else is just outside noise.