CBS Sports Radio host Maggie Gray has covered Dallas Mavericks guard Kyrie Irving for more than a decade, but admitted he lost her support last fall.
“He lost me for promoting that antisemitic video,” Gray said. Brandon Countess (h/t Rice Shipley) During the latest edition of the “Awful Podcast Announcement” was released on Friday. “It’s unfortunate because there are so many people who support him. I think a lot of people, myself included, felt disappointed and let down. He definitely lost a lot of people who were in his corner.”
Gray was referring to how Irving got what eventually became an eight-game suspension while he was with the Brooklyn Nets last November for sharing a link on social media to a movie and book that contained antisemitic metaphors and initially refused to apologize for the action. Irving eventually requested a trade over the winter and was shipped to the Mavericks in early February.
Irving, of course, was no stranger to generating negative headlines before some called him an anti-Semite. The 31-year-old famously got headaches during stints with the Cleveland Cavaliers and Boston Celtics, then appeared in just 29 regular-season contests in 2021-22 because he decided to remain unvaccinated against COVID-19.
Gray, the first to Irving covered While working for the MSG Network when he was in high school and later debating Polarizing Star as a host on WFAN in New York, he had his back throughout his past controversies until November.
“This can be difficult when you’ve been in this business long enough,” Gray explained. “I’ve always been an advocate for Kyrie Irving. It’s like I met the kid when he was 17. But at some point, it became impossible to defend him. And I would never even try when you traffic the kind of things that Kyrie used to do.” Earlier this year you will lose support.”
Mavericks coach Jason Kidd said recently that the team will “do everything it can to keep” Irving this offseason: