Kyrie Irving: I’m standing for freedom. There’s nobody that’s enslaving me

Kyrie Irving said that he is standing for freedom and that nobody can enslave him.

Per ESPN, "I’m standing for freedom," Irving said. "So that’s in all facets of my life. There’s nobody that’s enslaving me, there’s nobody that’s telling me what I’m going to do with my life, and that’s just the way I am. If I get tarnished in terms of my image and people try to slander my name continuously, those aren’t things that I forget. I haven’t forgotten anything that anybody said. I don’t read everything, but I definitely read some things that put my family’s name in a certain position that I believe are unfair”.

The 30-year-old former All-Star got a big ovation from the sold-out crowd — the largest in the facility’s history at 18,166 — after being introduced in the starting lineup. Just before tipoff, he walked to center court and pointed around the arena to acknowledge the reception he got from the Brooklyn fans.

“Tonight, my presence out there was just bigger than the basketball game,” Irving said. “I was just representing a lot of individuals that are out there in a similar situation as me. And now that I can play, I think we should be opened up for everybody.”