Veteran guard Kyrie Irving has recently made headlines in the NBA world after he agreed to stay in Dallas for a three-year $126 million deal. Though Irving was not able to perform at his best when he first came to Dallas, expectations on him are still sky high. What makes the 2016 NBA champion this special? There are many reasons, but perhaps it is Irving’s ball handling skills and the threat he poses to an opponent in a one-on-one situation that stands out.
Recently, a former player, who had played one-on-one with Kyrie Irving, has elaborated on a ‘scary’ aspect of the Dallas Mavericks star’s gameplay.
Ex-NBA star sheds light on a scary part of Kyrie Irving
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Ever since Kyrie Irving kick-started his career, he has been giving a tough time to the ones who try to guard him. Several ace defenders of the game have opined that the 8x-All-Star is one of the most hard players to guard. In a recent appearance on an episode of Fubo Sports’ No Chill Gill podcast, former shooting guard Iman Shumpert elaborated on the experience of guarding some of the top-notch NBA stars. Unsurprisingly, Shumpert spoke at length about Kyrie Irving.
Shumpert and Irving have played together and won a championship in Cleveland. Sure enough, the two have gone head-to-head during the scrimmages. While Shumpert spoke of Irving’s skills, host Gilbert Arenas said, Irving once told him that his focus will be solely on an opponent’s feet, while going head-to-head.
Both Arenas and Shumpert agreed this gives Irving an edge over his opponent. “You know what is scary about Kyrie? He’s one of the only players who will play against you with no plan. Playing one-on-one with Kyrie, I realized you don’t really care how you score it,” said Iman Shumpert.
“He will let you play. He’d rather play defense on offense. He is defending the ball and keeping the ball away from you and he lets you dictate how this is gonna go.” Later on, Shumpert dived deeper into the way Kyrie Irving deceives his opponents and goes for the final blow.
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Iman Shumpert speaks about Kyrie Irving’s ace deception skills
As Iman Shumpert puts it, Kyrie Irving will go with his full strength at an opponent’s weak side. Not many can move as quickly as Irving. But if someone were as quick as the 8x-All-Star, he still got other tricks up his sleeve.
Shumpert pointed out Irving will then go for a comfortable euro step and easily beat his defender. Once when Irving is in the position to score, he will again have different ways to score that point, Shumpert added.
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Watch This Story: Days After LeBron James Bombshell Drops on NBA World, Kyrie Irving Rumors Leave Fans in Disbelief: ?Why Would He Do That?
Anyhow, the Mavs’ faithful cannot wait to see Kyrie Irving putting out his best for the side, along with their centerpiece Luka Doncic.