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NBA superstar Kyrie Irving is one of the best point guards with the best handles ever. The former NBA title winner had a season to forget with the Brooklyn Nets last year. He missed a lot of regular season games due to COVID vaccination regulations. The Nets made the playoffs, however; the Boston Celtics swept them comfortably in the first round. And Kyrie Irving struggled throughout the series against the Celtics. Even though the last few seasons haven’t been good, he can still perform at a high level.

Terrell Owens holding Dude Wipes XL

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Also, he is one of the very few players to have signature shoes. And it is one of the best-selling sneakers around the world. Superstar LeBron James has always talked highly about Irving. He once revealed how he helped Kyrie get his signature shoes.

James said, “And I was like, that is a signature guy. Because not only is it his ability, what he does on the floor. Not only with his size. And his handle. His handle ? kids love that. He?s going to have a following. That is a signature guy.”

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READ MOREKyrie Irving Reveals His Cavaliers Form Alongside LeBron James Wasn?t the Best Level He Produced

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?So I was like, I told my guys at Nike, ?Yes if this is what you guys are thinking, stop f?ing thinking. He?s a signature guy. There?s nothing to think about.’?

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NBA fined Kyrie Irving

Nike listened and immediately offered Kyrie a deal and he put his thoughts into designing the Kyrie 1s. And he wanted to debut the shoes during a game against the Golden State Warriors. After the game, the NBA had some bad news for him.

Irving had put a lot of thoughts into the Kyrie 1s. He drew inspiration from his life. The sneakers had designs that represented the Sydney Opera House in his birthplace of Australia. The sneakers also had his mother’s name, date of birth, and date of death. It also had Irving’s number.

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After the game against the Warriors, Kyrie Irving revealed that he was fined for wearing sneakers because the red color didn’t match the team’s colorway. However, he said he was happy that the sneakers stood out from the rest.

The Cleveland Cavaliers selected Irving as the 1st overall pick in the 2011 NBA draft. And Irving hit the ground running for the Cavaliers and was their main man. However, they weren’t contenders.

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Things changed when LeBron James came back to the Cavs in 2014. Kyrie Irving and James formed a great partnership. The duo led them to an NBA championship in 2016 against the Golden State Warriors.

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Written by

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Bagavathi Eswaran

1,520 Articles

Bagavathi Eswaran is a senior NBA writer at EssentiallySports, having a strong passion for the sport since the age of ten. As a former college player, Bagavathi has been following the NBA for more than a decade and has found his calling in writing about the sport. He has used his expertise in covering the NBA, as well as other arenas of the sport, to write more than 1400 articles at ES. Bagavathi's pieces on the increasingly dominant presence of European basketball and those following the journey of women-ballers are particularly noteworthy. Along with being a full-time writer, he is also a part of a group of young coaches groomed as trainers by Junior NBA. Bagavathi has trained players from schools and colleges, as well as underprivileged students who can attend the camps for free.

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Arunaditya Aima

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