via Getty
US WNBA basketball superstar Brittney Griner arrives to a hearing at the Khimki Court, outside Moscow on June 27, 2022. – Griner, a two-time Olympic gold medallist and WNBA champion, was detained at Moscow airport in February on charges of carrying in her luggage vape cartridges with cannabis oil, which could carry a 10-year prison sentence. (Photo by KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV/AFP via Getty Images)
via Getty
US WNBA basketball superstar Brittney Griner arrives to a hearing at the Khimki Court, outside Moscow on June 27, 2022. – Griner, a two-time Olympic gold medallist and WNBA champion, was detained at Moscow airport in February on charges of carrying in her luggage vape cartridges with cannabis oil, which could carry a 10-year prison sentence. (Photo by KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV/AFP via Getty Images)
The NBA world has shown some solid support to Brittney Griner during the opening stages of the 2022-23 season. Several athletes including Stephen Curry and Kyrie Irving have spoken in favor of BG’s freedom on the NBA platform in recent times. However, Kyrie Irving’s request asking the POTUS to do his job resulted in the Brooklyn Nets getting trashed by a popular NBA analyst on live TV.
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Kyrie Irving has received a great deal of criticism since the time he chose to stay unvaccinated. As a result, he was sidelined for most of the games last season due to COVID-19 restrictions across the country. He received a lot of backlash from the media and NBA Insider Stephen A. Smith criticized the seven-time All-Star quite frequently.??
The ESPN NBA expert recently reacted to Kyrie Irving’s comments regarding the detention of Brittney Griner. The 2016 NBA champ urged the government to do its job ahead of the season-opener against the New Orleans Pelicans. Irving said, “Please, please POTUS, do your job. Everybody do your job, please bring our sister home.”
Kyrie Irving gets criticized for Brittney Griner comments
In the video by The Recount Alt, the host Charlamagne tha God reminded Smith that Kyrie Irving asked the American president to do his job regarding the Brittney Griner Russian saga. Stephen A. Smith responded,?“He said somebody need to do their job? Those are his words?”
ESPN's Stephen A. Smith points out the hypocrisy of Kyrie Irving saying Biden needs to "do his job" and get Brittney Griner back from Russian prison.
Irving voluntarily sat out most of last season for refusing to take the COVID-19 vaccine. pic.twitter.com/ep3apMcnNr
— The Recount Alt (@therecountalt) October 24, 2022
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Soon after, Smith scratched the back of his head with a sarcastic smile, leaving the host and the crowd laughing. Last season, the NBA Insider criticized Irving for failing to do his job in terms of getting vaccinated and making regular appearances for the Brooklyn Nets. Thus, it seemed that Smith resorted to pointing out the hypocrisy in Irving’s statement when he asked the Biden Administration to do their job.
Further, Smith suggested that he heard Irving has asked the fans to participate in the efforts for Brittney Griner’s freedom during his pregame speech. He said,?“I mean like, really?”
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The ESPN NBA Insider was not too impressed by Kyrie Irving’s comments regarding Brittney Griner. It looks like Smith feels that Irving failed to do his job by staying unvaccinated last season.
However, like most of the sports fraternity, Irving urged the people to come together in an effort to bring Griner home soon and safely. Lets us know your thoughts in the comments.
