Kyrie Irving was asked about Kevin Durant’s absence and what was different from this year compared to last year. His answer, of course, a shot at James Harden being “halfway in” –

This is hilarious. How do you sit up there and chide someone about being halfway in when you could only play in half the games yourself last year? I’d be halfway out the door too if I had to watch my teammate play locker room shaman every night.

Via Joe Vardon at The Athletic (with ads):

The Nets were in Cleveland Jan. 17. In their locker room before the game, Kyrie Irving lit ablaze some sage — a Native American ritual Irving has embraced to cleanse negative energy. Irving doesn’t do this before every game, but he apparently still feels haunted by parts of his past on the Cavs. So he lit his torch.

Harden, according to sources who were in the room when it happened, was seated in front of his locker, watching Irving, and looked at Kyrie like he had three heads.

Not to mention a halfway in James Harden is better than a fully participating Ben Simmons:

Kyrie’s a loser. He’s done more damage to the Nets than Billy King. He’s a guy who thinks he’s the smartest one in the room because he describes himself as a free thinker when in reality he’s just a stubborn asshole who doesn’t know how to have a conversation because he has yes men all around him who never call him on his bullshit. He’s the guy you argue with who just shouts over you because he knows he’s losing. But you know what his worst quality is? Inserting himself into conversations that don’t even involve him. Worst character trait a person could have:

Next Wednesday should be fun.