Dallas Mavericks guard Kyrie Irving. Rob Gray-Imagn Images

Kyrie Irving calls out Bill Simmons over his latest podcast comments

Originally posted on Larry Brown Sports
By Darryn Albert | Last updated Oct 11, 2025 4:03 PM ET

Dallas Mavericks star Kyrie Irving is going to bat for his new teammate.

Irving called out Bill Simmons of The Ringer this week over some comments he made about guard D’Angelo Russell. While previewing the 2025-26 NBA season on the latest episode of his podcast, Simmons discussed Dallas and used an analogy to describe Russell.

“He’s [like] your buddy that comes to visit, and it’s really great when he is only there for one day,” said Simmons. “[But] by day six, you’re like, ‘Ah, I’m ready for him to leave.’ That’s D-Lo.”

That led to a sharp response from Irving on social media.

Oh Bill, you would never say this to Dlo in person and we both know it. https://t.co/Qb0Rj1sxP7 pic.twitter.com/krThotZ5rN
— Kyrie (@KyrieIrving) October 11, 2025

Those who are familiar with Simmons’ podcast know that he often uses various analogies (whether related to other sports, pop culture, or life) to get his points across. His criticism was actually relatively light and focused entirely on Russell’s style of basketball.

However, Irving thought that there was something more personal in play there. You can’t blame Irving for standing up for his new teammate, but there is also some history between Irving (a former Boston Celtic) and Simmons (a known Celtics fan) as they had a back-and-forth exchange online in 2023.

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

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