Kyrie Andrew Irving is an American professional basketball player for the Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was named the Rookie of the Year after being selected by the Cleveland Cavaliers with the first overall pick in the 2011 NBA draft. An eight-time All-Star and three-time member of the All-NBA Team, he won an NBA championship with the Cavaliers in 2016. Irving is widely considered one of the best ball handlers of all time.
Irving played one year of college basketball for the Duke Blue Devils before joining the Cavaliers in 2011. He won the Most Valuable Player (MVP) award for the 2014 All-Star Game. In the 2016 NBA Finals, Irving made the championship-winning three-point field goal to complete the Cavaliers' historic comeback over the Golden State Warriors. After another Finals appearance in 2017, Irving requested a trade and was dealt to the Boston Celtics. He played with the Celtics for two seasons, after which he signed with the Brooklyn Nets as a free agent in 2019. After four seasons with the Nets, Irving requested a trade and was dealt to the Dallas Mavericks in 2023, where he reached his fourth NBA Finals with the team in 2024. He has also played for the United States national team, with which he won gold at the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup and the 2016 Summer Olympics. In February 2020, he was elected as one of the seven vice-presidents of the National Basketball Players Association, replacing Pau Gasol. Irving's decision not to get vaccinated for COVID-19 led to him missing the majority of the 2021–2022 NBA season.
Throughout his career, Irving has promoted numerous conspiracy theories. Some of these conspiracies, including tweeting a link to the movie Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America, have been characterized as antisemitic. For a time prior, Irving promoted a theory that the Earth is flat, which he later recanted.
He has written, directed, and acted in a number of advertisements as "Uncle Drew", which became a feature film in 2018. He has starred as himself in Kickin' It (2012) and has done voicework in We Bare Bears (2016) and Family Guy (2018).
