Dallas Mavericks guard Kyrie Irving. Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

Watch: Kyrie Irving has interesting response to free-agency rumors during Instagram Live

Originally posted on Larry Brown Sports
By Darryn Albert | Last updated 5/24/23

For a guy who never seems to mind the attention, Kyrie Irving wants you to stop giving it to him right now.

The Dallas Mavericks star went live on his Instagram page Wednesday and responded to the recent free-agency rumors surrounding him.

“I’m a free agent this summer, but I am in no rush to make a decision,” said Irving. “The speculation around my name from all these individuals who be on TV and have these personalities, all these people that have platforms … When they speak on my name and they’re talking about potential teams that I’m going to, can y’all please, respectfully, stop paying attention to that.

“I am in no rush to make a decision,” the eight-time All-Star added. “I know what’s ahead of me for the rest of my career.”

Here is the full clip of Irving’s remarks (but beware of bad language).

"I’m a free agent this summer, But I am in no rush to make a decision… When they speak on my name talking about potential teams, can y’all please stop paying attention to that"
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Kyrie Irving on recent noise surrounding his name pic.twitter.com/ED8ixESGsM

— League Alerts (@LeagueAlerts) May 24, 2023

There is really only one team that people are mentioning in connection with Irving at the moment — the Los Angeles Lakers. Irving was pursued by the Lakers at the trade deadline and recently triggered speculation by showing up to Lakers’ playoff games. Current Lakers point guards D’Angelo Russell and Dennis Schroder are also set to become free agents, and former Irving teammate LeBron James is considering retirement (in what many see as a leverage ploy to get the Lakers to drastically improve their roster).

But a report from earlier this week suggested that the Lakers front office might just have a different plan. As for Irving himself, it appears he is just focused on the Mavericks as well as on living life at the moment.

This article first appeared on Larry Brown Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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