Despite controversies and suspensions, Kyrie Irving wins Chris Brown's vote for top player

Kyrie Irving may have been embroiled in a number of controversies throughout his career but remains a favorite to many. One of them is singer-performer Chris Brown.

The Grammy Award-winning recording artist said that he has been a long-time fan of the eight-time NBA All-Star in an interview with Shannon Sharpe. Brown said about Irving:

“My favorite player is Kyrie. He is one of my closest friends, too. But as far as I have seen him play, being around him, playing with him, he is probably one of the phenomenal guys when it comes to the English on the backboard.”

He continued:

“I like his tenacity. He’s aggressive but he’s graceful. I think he makes other players better. He’s getting into the consciousness of ‘Hey, look, we got to do this together.’ I think he brings a lot of spunk…”

Kyrie Irving has had his share of controversies and suspensions, stemming from his beliefs, since being selected by the Cleveland Cavaliers number one overall in the 2011 Draft.

He once claimed that the Earth is flat, which he was taken to task for by many. He would eventually apologize for his flat Earth comments but did not say whether he still stood by his claims.

During the height the COVID-19 pandemic, Irving refused to receive vaccine, missing a considerable number of games, particularly home games of his then team, the Brooklyn Nets.

Last year, Kyrie Irving was at the center of another controversy when he shared on social media a link to the documentary Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America, which is deemed to espouse antisemitic views.

Many slammed the point guard for his actions, including Nets owner Joe Tsai and Hall-of-Famers Shaquille O’Neal, Charles Barkley and Reggie Miller.

The NBA moved to suspend him for a number of games without pay because of the controversy while his lucrative deal with Nike was suspended and, eventually, terminated. Irving later said that he's not antisemitic and apologized to those who were offended by his actions.

Midway last season, he asked the Nets to trade him. He got his wish and was sent to the Dallas Mavericks in exchange for Dorian Finney-Smith, Spencer Dinwiddie and a future first-round pick.

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Kyrie Irving’s NBA career

Kyrie Irving is an eight-time NBA All-Star and one-time NBA champion.

While his career has been peppered with controversies, there's no denying the place of Kyrie Irving among the top players in the league right now.

Apart from being an NBA All-Star multiple times, he's an NBA champion with the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2016 and boasts career averages of 23.4 points, 5.7 assists and 1.3 steals per game in 671 career games.

Internationally, he has been successful, too, winning gold medals with Team USA in the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio, Brazil, and 2014 World Cup in Spain.