Kyrie Irving has come to the defense of a fellow New Jersey brother.
With some NBA fans mocking Karl-Anthony Towns for changing his voice during various public appearances to make it sound like he’s from New York, Irving told fans to stop during a recent Twitch livestream.
“Y’all gotta stop making fun of my brother KAT,” Irving said. “I’m done with y’all. Stop making fun of my brother KAT. It’s over now. It’s a f---ing wrap. I’m letting y’all know, if you repost that shit again and meme him up, I’m attacking you. Not like that, physically ... but, I’m attacking you, alright? I’m attacking you.”
Irving, the West Orange native who starred at St. Patrick High School under coach Kevin Boyle, said he doesn’t “always agree” with how Towns changes his tone, but credited to his upbringing in the Garden State. Towns is from Piscataway and attended St. John’s-Metuchen before Kentucky.
Both Irving (2011) and Towns (2015) were No. 1 overall picks in the NBA Draft.
“Y’all don’t know what it’s like to grow up in Jersey and have all of these cultures that you’re a part of,” said Irving. “Trust me on that. ... He grew up in a certain area in Jersey, just like me, and you gotta survive out here. And you have many different demographics of people.”
Towns has always taken great pride in his New York and New Jersey roots. His later mother, Jacqueline Cruz was a big Knicks fan, and Towns said his father once tried out for the Knicks.
“The Knicks was different because my mom [Jackie] when she immigrated over from the (Dominican Republic), she always went to the Knicks games and the Knicks were one of the few teams that gave my dad [Karl Sr.] a chance in the NBA as well,” Towns told Shannon Sharpe on the Shay Shay Podcast.
Big Karl said Jackie would have loved seeing her son play for the Knicks.
“She would be happy because her baby is back home – he’s back home where he started,” Karl Sr told the Asbury Park Press last fall. “She’s in heaven ecstatic.”
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Adam Zagoria is a freelance reporter who covers Seton Hall and NJ college basketball for NJ Advance Media. You may follow him on Twitter @AdamZagoriaand check out his Website atZAGSBLOG.com.