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The 31 Best Quotes from the Year of Kyrie Irving

Kyrie Irving has opinions and he's not afraid to share them. With 2017 coming to a close, we look back on the 31 best quotes from Kyirie and the year of asking questions.

Andrew Sharp

The 31 Best Quotes from the Year of Kyrie Irving
The 31 Best Quotes from the Year of Kyrie Irving /

On Christmas day the Celtics will take on the Wizards, and as we approach the New Year, it's a good time to appreciate just how much ground we've covered with Kyrie Irving this year. What follows is a collection of thoughts on the surface of the earth, the moon landing, pedagogy, capitalism, the thief of joy, eating animals, the soundtrack from Rent, and exploitation tactics. 

This is not an endorsement, not a criticism—this is merely a historical document. Including a few honorary guests along the way, here are 31 quotes from Kyrie Irving and the year of just asking questions. 

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Rob Foldy/Getty Images

31. “This is not even a conspiracy theory. The Earth is flat. It’s right in front of our faces. I’m telling you, it’s right in front of our faces. They lie to us. What I’ve been taught is that the earth is round. But if you really think about it from a landscape of the way we travel, the way we move and the fact that, can you really think of us rotating around the sun and all planets aligned, rotating in specific dates, being perpendicular with what’s going on with these 'planets'?” (Road Trippin')

30. Richard Jefferson: “How are you going to put the word ‘planets’ in quotations?” (Road Trippin')

29. "Also, I have a question. Why is it that the footprints that they saved [from the moon], because they collected the footprints... Literally, as simple as this: Why do they look completely different than the ones that are actually in the museum? I just want to know. I just want to know these things. I have questions." (Holding Court)  

28. "It was all an exploitation tactic. It literally spun the world—your guys' world—it spun it into a frenzy and proved exactly what I thought it would do in terms of how all this works. It created a division, or, literally stand up there and let all these people threw tomatoes at me, or have somebody think I'm somehow a different intellectual person because I believe that the Earth is flat and you think the world is round. It created exactly that. It became like, because I think different, does that knock my intellectual capacity or the fact that I can think different things than you?" (The Sports Hub)

27. "It was an interesting, interesting six years. You think about how the journey transcended my career. From starting the first three years—that was a picture in itself. And then the last three years, those finite moments that have defined you as a player and a man, you're very appreciative of it." (First Take)

26. "I'm not here to tirade anybody ... There comes a time where you mature as an individual, it's time to make that decision, and there is no looking back from that standpoint. There is no time to figure out how to save somebody's feelings when ultimately you have to be selfish in figuring out what you want to do." (First Take)

25. "Brad fits perfectly in terms of that because he has an intellectual mind and is an intellectual human being. It was something I was unbelievably craving in terms of what I wanted for my career." (Holding Court)

24. "I think that the most important thing that I strive to live by is extremely by truth and by consistently giving others the truth, without any judgment, without constraints, without anything extra except the understanding that I see you. I have family members who come from knowing energy, and it was passed along to me." (Boston.com)

23. On differences between the Celtics and Cavs: "Man, comparison's a thief of joy." (Jay King)

22. On why he wants to start a self-sustaining community: “I always say it to my friends… the fact that you have to pay to play in this world is ridiculous. You really have to pay to play. You have to pay your phone bill. You have to pay for the spot that you’re living in right now. You have to pay for your clothes. You have to pay for your hat. You have to pay for your shirt. And on top of that, you want to throw on some jewelry. And then there’s a separate class that they’ve put us in because of money.” (Short Story Long)

21. On his health: "I feel absolutely amazing. My energy, my sleeping patterns, just my intellect and everything that I'm awake to now—I'm very much aware." (ESPN)

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20. On the secret behind the Celtics comebacks: "Just a lot of heart, you know, being protected by some incredible energies." (NBC Sports) 

19. Jaylen Brown, channeling the energies:

18. Jaylen Brown: "I think Coach Stevens has a very clear idea of what he wants. I think his pedagogy, his teaching pedagogy, is dope." Stevens, describing his pedagogy: "Dope." (Mass Live)

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Tim Bradbury/Getty Images

17. Brad Stevens: "I look at coaching like being a teacher at any school. And that is you create a curriculum, you create a progression of teaching. We do a lot of whole-part-whole where we throw a lot at them and break it down, then try to get better at it. But ultimately, it’s about bringing each individual up to speed on what they do best. And everybody needs to be taught a little bit differently, everybody learns a little bit differently; and kind of balancing all that. So that’s why it’s dope!” (Mass Live)

16. The Celtics, on their formative music:

15. Before playing on a replica of the Bucks' 1980s court: “I’m all about safety, though, so see how it is on my knees, see how it is on everyone’s bodies. I know this is a pretty old court. Yeah ... it took me three steps to realize this isn’t the same NBA court I’m used to playing on.” (Chris Forsberg)

14. “I see you. I see everyone. More than just your physical presence, I see your energy. I feel it. I know it.” (Boston.com)

13. "S--- my d---." (YouTube)

12. "The whole intent behind it, Coach [Auriemma], it wasn’t to bypass science. It wasn’t to have the ultimate intent of starting a rage and honestly be seen as this insane individual. Coach, it was, just when I started just seeing comments and things about just universal truths that I had known, I had questions. I had questions. I don’t necessarily know. I won’t sit here and say that I know." (Holding Court)  

11. "I Am My True Self. Are you?" (Instagram)

Watch: Kyrie Irving Not Into 'Hoopla' of Christmas

10. "I’m not eating a whole bunch of animals anymore. Once you become awake, you don’t see that stuff anymore.” (Bleacher Report)

9. During the NBA Finals: "That's the type of guy that I want to be with every single time I'm going to war. ... You move to the front line with a guy like that, and you want to bring your game up to another level. I know that if we continue to be with one another and keep utilizing one another, man, the sky's the limit. So, I've learned a lot and will continue to, and I couldn't be more proud of that guy. He left it all out there on the floor, and to average a triple-double in the freaking Finals, man, add that to the LeBron long list that everyone keeps forgetting." (NBA Finals press conference)

8. After the Celtics trade: "I just think that you just care entirely too much ... I made the decision as a man, and as a man over there, Max Kellerman, just respect it and leave it alone." (First Take)

7. Before playing on Christmas: "The hoopla on Christmas, I don't really get into that. I don't really necessarily think of Christmas as a holiday." (NBC Sports) 

6. "When I started actually doing research on my own and figuring out that there is no real picture of Earth—there is not one picture of Earth. And we haven’t been back to the moon since 1961 or 1969. And you start, and then it becomes like conspiracies where you start thinking, 'OK, let me question this.'" (Holding Court)

Get All the Way Out of Here With This ‘All Seeing Eye’ Nonsense, Kyrie

5. Adam Silver: "Kyrie and I went to the same college. He may have taken some different courses than I did." (NBA All-Star Game)

4. "I’m asking you like this. Do you know they filmed the actual spacecraft leaving from the moon, right? Who the hell is filming that? You tell me." (Holding Court)

3. "There is no concrete information except for the information that they’re giving us. They’re particularly putting you in the direction of what to believe and what not to believe. The truth is right there, you just got to go searching for it.” (Road Trippin')

2. "I just wanted to have that conversation. That’s it. I wanted to actually know or ask other individuals, Bro—excuse me, Coach [Auriemma] and Sue [Bird]—do you really think that this actually happened? I don’t know. I don’t know, either." (Holding Court) 

1. "Oh, if you're very much woke, there is no such thing as distractions." 

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Andrew Sharp
ANDREW SHARP

Andrew Sharp is a staff writer for Sports Illustrated. He covers basketball, and has worked for several outlets since 2009. He lives in Washington D.C.

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