Kyrie Irving is asking his followers to ignore the noise.
Irving is a free agent this offseason, and he went on Instagram Live Wednesday and brushed off the idea that anybody in the media has a clue what he’ll decide to do.
“I am a free agent this summer, but I am in no rush to make a decision,” Irving said.
“The speculation around my name from all these individuals that get on TV and have these personalities … all these people that have these platforms, and I’m talking about the TV personalities that try to mix sports with politics and lifestyle and s–t like that…
“When they speak on my name talking about potential teams that I’m going to, can y’all, I’m asking respectfully, please stop paying attention to that.”
The Lakers got dusted by the Nuggets in a four-game sweep of the Western Conference finals, and Irving was courtside in Los Angeles for Game 4 on Tuesday.
There has been persistent speculation that he could reunite with LeBron James on the Lakers to see if they could rekindle the magic of the championship they won together in Cleveland.
James, however, said for the first time that he isn’t ruling out retirement.
ESPN NBA reporter Brian Windhorst, who has a habit of being clairvoyant when it comes to predicting NBA offseason player movement, broached the topic earlier this week.
“I could just see Kyrie [Irving] ready to come, and the feel on like, ‘Look, we just got to the conference finals, imagine if we replace [D’Angelo] Russell with Kyrie?’” Windhorst said on his ESPN Podcast, The Hoop Collective, after the Lakers went down 3-0 in the Nuggets series.
“The Lakers have fallen for this before. The way this is ending, I think it’s increasing the chances of it happening,” he continued.
Irving has attended two Lakers playoff games, and a Kings-Warriors game in these playoffs.
After Irving forced a trade from the Nets this past season and landed on the Mavericks, Dallas wilted out of playoff contention — though he was hardly the only factor in the team’s collapse.
However, Irving was at peace with the situation.
“Protect your peace at all times,” Irving tweeted, adding a meme with the caption: “When you realize that you can’t & aren’t obligated to please everyone and stop burdening yourself under absurd expectations and finally feel at peace.”
