Chinese basketball fans in disbelief as NBA star Kyrie Irving pays one a visit at his home
How would you react if you opened your front door to find the basketball star you have idolised since middle school standing there? For one Kyrie Irving fan in China, the biggest battle was trying to prove that the encounter was not one generated by artificial intelligence. On Tuesday, a Shanghai fa
By Stephy Zhang
How would you react if you opened your front door to find the basketball star you have idolised since middle school standing there? For one Kyrie Irving fan in China, the biggest battle was trying to prove that the encounter was not one generated by artificial intelligence.
On Tuesday, a Shanghai fan whose social media account takes the name of the Dallas Mavericks star as well as his jersey number posted a video on a Chinese platform that sparked widespread envy in the comments section.
In the clip, the 18-year-old fan introduces himself and claims that Irving is currently inside his home, before panning the camera to reveal the NBA star waving to the audience.
Inside the home, Irving chatted with the fan as if he were a friend, comparing hand sizes and gifting him multiple autographed jerseys and trainers. The NBA star also readily agreed to leave his signature on the fan’s wall.
“It’s like a dream; Kyrie came to my house,” the fan captioned the post, which attracted 863,000 likes in less than two days.
Irving himself commented under the video: “Great meeting you, and congrats on your gaokao exam.”
Gaokao is the National Higher Education Entrance Examination.
Visibly thrilled, the fan replied with crying emojis to thank Irving for the visit, wishing him good health for the coming season and promising his continued support.
Beyond the fan himself, many Chinese netizens expressed disbelief at the star’s sudden appearance, with the comment section flooded with envious reactions.
“Please tell me this is AI-generated; why is there no warning label?” one astonished netizen asked.
Another user wrote: “Bro, you won. You should have just posted this ‘minor’ thing on your Moments.”
Irving arrived in China on June 21. The home visit was part of his China tour, a marketing campaign organised by sporting brand Anta Basketball that also features fan meetups and lucky draws for autographed merchandise with new product purchases.
Following a new product launch in Shanghai and a crossover interaction with Olympic table tennis champion Fan Zhendong, Irving arrived in Chengdu on Wednesday.
He was scheduled to host a basketball training camp and participate in street basketball cultural activities before heading to Shenzhen on Friday.