Kyrie Irving had a contentious split with LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavalier ahead of the start of the NBA season, so it’s no surprise that he was giddy to hear about his trade to the Celtics.
Lil Rel Howery, who starred in Jordan Peele’s Oscar-nominated flick “Get Out,” opened up about Irving’s reaction to the trade while speaking on the red carpet at the 90th Academy Awards on Sunday night. The comedian and actor, who co-stars with Irving in the upcoming sports comedy “Uncle Drew,” revealed that he was on set with Boston’s newest star when the news broke.
“The dopest moment was when the trade actually went through,” Howery said. “He was so happy, man. We were in the middle of a scene. We were shooting a scene. His homeboy came in, whispered in his ear, and he just runs out. We’re filming. He just runs out. We’re in the club shooting a scene, he runs out.”
Lil Rel Howery describes Kyrie Irving Celtics trade reaction
Actor Lil Rel Howery describes the moment Kyrie found out he got traded while on set for ‘Uncle Drew’: “He was so happy, man.” pic.twitter.com/pgxr6eR8g3
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) March 5, 2018
Howery says Irving was so happy about the news, that he danced when he returned to the set.
“He comes back and everybody’s applauding,” the comic said. “It was a dancing scene, so when you see the movie of him like really getting it, that’s going to be real life. He was really happy.”
Before the deal was officially done, talk of a Kyrie Irving Celtics trade was an awkward subject for Howery on the set of “Uncle Drew.”
“You watching Sportscenter, as you always do, like, ‘Man, he wants to leave Cleveland?'” Howery said. “You see him the next day, you don’t say nothing, because you don’t know if he’ll like that. But you look awkwardly at him like, ‘I want to ask so bad.'”
Luckily, it sounds like Irving was pretty pumped about shipping up to Boston. See him bring the laughs, and the dance moves, with Howery when “Uncle Drew” hits theaters June 29.
