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Remember during the 2012 Olympics training camp when former Duke star Kyrie challenged Kobe Bryant to a one-on-one game for $50,000?
Irving was coming off his Rookie of the Year campaign and Bryant, 32, was maybe sliding off of his Hall of Fame career peak but not by much, so it was a pretty audacious thing for the rising young star to do.
Kobe refused and the game never happened of course but if what goes around comes around, it came to Irving as a young fan stepped up to challenge him, saying ‘Hey yo Kyrie! I’ll really lock you up. I’ll lock you up.”
Irving looks at the guy, pulls down his mask, and says: “in what world, bro?“
With someone more defensive (maybe that’s the wrong word here, come to think of it), Irving handled it really well. It was relaxed, factual and not a bit unpleasant. The guy got a great piece of video and a life time memory and Irving comes across as a really good guy.
Win/win.