Kyrie Irving offered more context as to why he was upset with Dennis Schröder prior to their ejection from Saturday's matchup between the Los Angeles Lakers and Brooklyn Nets.
The Nets guard took to Twitter to call out Schröder's apparent use of the N-word when addressing Kyrie during Brooklyn's blowout loss to the Lakers. During the game, both men were ejected following a verbal altercation between the two.
"The N-word is a derogatory racial slur!" Kyrie wrote on Twitter after the game. "It will never be...a term of endearment, reclaimed, flipped. NEVER FORGET ITS FOUL AND TRUE HISTORY! Throw that N-word out the window, right alongside all of those other racist words used to describe my people. We are not slaves or N's."
Tense words were exchanged between both point guards after a foul call on Irving, which resulted in the Nets guard's ejection. Following the Lakers' 126-101 win over the Nets, Schröder spoke out against the referee's decision to eject him along with Kyrie.
"I think it was unnecessary," Schröder said after the game. "It's just unfortunate that I left my team out there by their self. And I mean, I don't even know what I did; but I got kicked out, and I apologize for that just to my teammates."
Referees later said Schröder was ejected for taunting as he waved goodbye to Irving as he was leaving the court.
