It took only one year for Kyrie Irving to turn his career around. After his successful stint in Cleveland, Kyrie spent season after season bouncing around from one team to another, hoping to find a permanent home. His reputation gradually started taking a hit because of his controversial off-court antics, resulting in frequent absences. But after joining the Mavs last year, Kai has turned the narrative in his favor by leading them to the NBA Finals. Amid his success, Phil Handy posted a long writeup for Kyrie, which was instantly shot down by media vet Chris Broussard.

In a lengthy Instagram post, Handy shared a picture of him and Kyrie back from the NBA Finals during their Cleveland days. He asserted, “There’s a lot of people in the hoop world who owe this man public apologies” for trying to bury his career by spreading a biased narrative. “If you don’t know someone you probably shouldn’t speak on them,” he suggested. Well, his heartwarming paragraph got quite the reception and plaudits. However, Broussard on The Odd Couple Podcast, hit the ex-Lakers Assistant Coach with a harsh reality and revealed why Kyrie won’t get an apology at least from him.

“The overwhelming majority of the criticism that Kyrie got, he brought on himself.” Amid all the criticism Kyrie has faced, Broussard reminded Handy he was never doubted because of his ball skills. Everyone knew he was a star on the court. The reporter went to the extent of saying that whoever talked ill about Kyrie’s on-court skills shouldn’t be allowed to talk about basketball. However, what people didn’t like about Kai was the things he had been doing off the court.

To prove his point, Broussard even admitted that he was wrong for saying that the Mavs shouldn’t give Kyrie a long-term contract because of his recent track record with his previous teams. “I don’t know if this is apology worthy,” Broussard said.

Chris Broussard dissects Kyrie Irving’s controversial past

Backing his point of why Kyrie brought the criticism upon himself, Broussard listed several controversial moves of the Mavs guard. The way he demanded a trade out of Cleveland, the former ESPN employee reminded his listeners, “He admits that now that he’d love to play with LeBron again, and then threatened reportedly to have knee surgery if they wouldn’t trade him”. Then, when he joined the Cs, he publicly promised to stay in Boston if the city wanted him to. But, backpedaling, Kai would leave the city after two seasons.

What followed during his time in Brooklyn hurt his reputation even more. When everyone was getting vaccinated for COVID-19, he refused to take the shot. Then, due to the New York City mandates, he was forced to miss several Nets’ home games. Meanwhile, Andrew Wiggins, who faced a similar issue in Golden State, took the vaccine and helped his team win a title.

The final nail in the coffin came when Kyrie shared an antisemitic film on his social media account and refused to apologize for his actions. It led to a massive public outrage, even leading to a suspension. He lost his sneaker deal with Nike.

While no one has ever raised a finger at Kyrie- the basketball player, such actions caused the media to say what they said on air, Broussard claimed. So, do people really owe Kyrie Irving an apology like Phil Handy claimed? What are your thoughts?

Stay tuned for more such updates, and to follow in what Shaq’s ex-agent, Leonard Armato, had to say about the marketing genius, watch this video.