Kyrie Irving is going to bat for his new teammate.
The Dallas Mavericks star Irving called out Bill Simmons of The Ringer this week over some comments that Simmons made about new Mavericks guard D’Angelo Russell. While previewing the coming NBA season on the latest episode of his self-titled podcast, Simmons touched on 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 X.
“Oh Bill, you would never say this to Dlo in person and we both know it,” Irving wrote.
Irving also included a GIF of Omar from the TV show “The Wire,” saying, “It’s all in the game though, right?”
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 in general) in order to get across his points. That was actually a very lightweight criticism of Russell too and was entirely focused on Russell’s style of basketball.
But Irving clearly thought that there was something more personal in play there. You can’t blame Irving for standing up for his new teammate in Russell. But there is also some past history between Irving (a former Boston Celtic) and Simmons (a known Celtics homer) as they had another back-and-forth online a couple of years ago too.