Kyrie Irving, guard for the Dallas Mavericks, replaced his profile picture on social media with that of 11-year-old Yaqeen Hammad, a Palestinian girl who was killed in an airstrike in Gaza, as the NBA star once again used his platform for awareness.
Kyrie Irving’s change on his verified Instagram account on Sunday was quickly noticed by fans and media alike. Fans quickly took the move as yet another demonstration of how the NBA star used his accounts as a platform to raise awareness on social issues.
Irving’s most recent actions are far from an overtly effortless act of public support for Palestine that displays his sophistication as an 8-time All-Star. During the past two calendar years, Irving has been publicly donning a keffiyeh, which is a traditional Arab headdress.
The eight-time NBA All-Star, who is currently recovering from an ACL tear injury from the previous March, cutting his 2024-25 season short (he averaged 24.7 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 4.6 assists over 50 games), finds himself setting a new precedent, having activism surround him, even as he is not playing.
There are mixed reactions on social media, but supporters of the gesture seem to value the reminder that many of the lives lost will only be attributed to lost lives in headlines. Despite whatever the conversation may be, Irving’s action re-establishes what he has always done since entering the league, make humanitarian issues a priority, and he uses his personal brand to draw attention to these voices that may not have had attention raised about them.
Kyrie Irving gets Honest About Time on Cvs With LeBron James
During a recent Twitch livestream, Dallas Mavericks guard Kyrie Irving clarified his surprising 2017 trade request from the Cleveland Cavaliers, stating that he never disliked playing with LeBron James.
“It’s a different journey, you’re automatically expected to be at the top of the league,” he said. “Every time you play with [James] it’s going to be a lot of media attention, a lot of narratives, spun narratives, politics, a lot of s— that people don’t see in front of the camera. And for me I was just a young person trying to figure it out.”
“I would have loved to choose the franchise I wanted to go to… I would have loved to develop next to some of my favorite players… It’s not that I dislike playing with [LeBron] at any time. It was just literally my time to move on.”
– Kyrie Irving 😳pic.twitter.com/wrx6EVlpFC
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) August 13, 2025
He clarified that this did not mean he didn’t like the time they spent together, but simply that “it was just literally my time to move on.”
So far, Kyrie Irving will miss the entirety of the 2025-2026 season, as he continues to recover from his ACL injury he sustained during the late part of the 2024 season.
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Dan has been active in sports since 2016 and has worked behind the scenes as a scriptwriter for basketball, volleyball, and other sports. At a time, Dan has also been working as a sports commentator for CBA Pilipinas. During the pandemic, he has also been actively writing betting articles for CashBet and BetNow.
