Kyrie Irving and Luka Dončić are becoming known as the best huggers in the NBA. Just watch this embrace after their Game 6 victory over the Thunder. That’s the kind of hug that will bring a grown man to tears.
Do you see the way Luka gives Kyrie the three pats on the back that signal “This hug is about to wrap up,” but then Kyrie doesn’t let go, refuses to wrap up, just snuggles up even closer to Luka’s cheek, getting even more hug? I would pay a lot of money to get in on that hug. Fantastic hug.
Maybe some of that hug still had my brain in a warm and fuzzy state this morning when I scrolled past a video clip on Twitter that made me do a double take. Kyrie and Luka are doing a post-game interview together, and Kyrie says, “LeBron has one of his rings because of me, and now I’m trying to get a ring for this handsome White stud sitting next to me.” Really? Huh. Watch it for yourself.
Then I got a minute after lunch and figured I should see what people were saying about Kyrie’s intentions and his description of his hugging partner. I was surprised to find nothing. The same clip is on YouTube but there was no commentary anywhere. So I went back and tracked down the tweet and waded into the comments and—oh. Yeah. That’s AI.
So here’s your friendly reminder: find someone you love like Kyrie and Luka love each other, and give that someone an extended cheek-to-check hug. It will make you happy. And watch out for AI, folks. It’s only going to get scarier.