Cavs players protested showing of Kyrie Irving tribute video

There’s rumors swirling over why the Cleveland Cavaliers didn’t broadcast a video tribute the franchise made for Kyrie Irving

If you were at Quicken Loans Arena for the Cleveland Cavaliers opening night win over the Boston Celtics and were expecting to see a Kyrie Irving tribute video, the moment never came.

The company line is that the moment to broadcast Kyrie’s years in a Cavs uniform never presented itself.

The real story may be that the Cavs’ players didn’t want to pay respect to the man who hit the biggest shot in Cleveland basketball history.

Celeveland.com’s Joe Vardon wrote:

"“A source with direct knowledge of Cavs’ players thinking told cleveland.com that several inside the Cleveland locker room were upset Monday upon hearing that a video was planned.”"

A Cavs spokesman said the video was supposed to be aired during “floating” time. For example, this could be coming out of a TV timeout.

The moment never occurred according to the Cavs, and the organization also said that Gordan Hayward’s gruesome leg injury was not “directly” tied to the non-broadcast of the video.

So indirectly, Hayward’s injury had to do something with it. The Celtics’ prize free-agent signing went down just five minutes into the season. His teammates prayed. Cavs players looked like they saw a ghost.

Fan reaction to Kyrie may have played something into the non-broadcast, although the Cavs would probably never admit that.

Irving was loudly booed during player introductions, and if a video was shown, The Q probably would’ve revolted.

Perhaps a championship has mellowed me, but I don’t understand the hatred toward Irving. Yeah, he comes off a little out of touch sometimes, but so what can you expect.

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People have been telling him how great he is as basketball since he was 12.

The fact of the matter is that he’ll forever be a Cleveland sports hero in my book.

So he asked for a trade? Big deal. Guess what? Teams don’t matter to players anymore. Remember when LeBron james left? The NBA is in full-blown AAU culture and that’s not changing.

Embrace what Irving did for this title starved town. His 3-pointer delivered the first major sports championship since 1964. It’s a great moment for this city and region, and it should still be celebrated. Not booed.

Kyrie didn’t have to leave, but he chose to because he wanted to lead his own team. Well, he’s got his wish, as adversity just hammered Boston. If the Hayward injury is as serious as it looks, whatever hopes the Celtics had of going to the Finals this season is gone, as noted by Charles Barkley during the halftime show.

Kyrie could’ve partnered with James for an easy path into June.

Now he gets a first-hand look at how difficult “leading” will be.

Next: Why this could be the greatest Cavs team ever

The Cavs are probably a better team overall because of his departure, and with Brooklyn’s projected lottery pick on the horizon, the future of Cleveland basketball is a lot brighter as well.