Cavaliers will honor Kyrie Irving with video tribute

Kyrie Irving probably isn’t the most popular guy around Cleveland right now. Despite helping lead the city to its first title in over 50 years, he hasn’t endeared himself to the fanbase since demanding a trade and commenting on how Boston is a “real, live sports city.”

That doesn’t mean there weren’t some good times prior though, and Cleveland.com is reporting that the Cavaliers intend to honor Irving with a video tribute during the season opener Tuesday against the Boston Celtics:

According to a team source, the video is a "thank you" to Irving intended to show appreciation for all he accomplished in six seasons here. The team has not decided when during the game to show the video.

Much has been made of how Cavs fans will react to Irving, and a boo-filled tribute video could be pretty awkward. The charitable view for how it will play out is that the fans can thank Irving for his time in Cleveland, even if for just a minute, but who knows what will ultimately happen.

Tyronn Lue, for his part, agrees with whatever the Cavaliers fans do, whether it be a positive or negative reaction, also via Cleveland.com:

"We've got the best fans in the world and they're going to do whatever they see best. Whatever decision they make, that's the right one," Lue said. "Because they've been behind us for three straight years, since I've been here, they've always made the right decisions. So whatever they decide to do, I embrace whatever they do."

To hear Lue not call for an amiable response as a former player was surprising, but he had a similar tone when asked about Irving’s “real, live sports city” comments about Boston, so he’s clearly coming down on the side of the organization on this one.

It’s guaranteed to be a fascinating environment, and we don’t have to wait much longer. The Cavaliers opener tips at 8 PM on Tuesday in Cleveland.