Kyrie Irving Never Showed Up to Sunday's Knicks-Nets Game After Coach Claimed He'd Attend

When you have a Nike billboard right next to Madison Square Garden essentially poking fun at the New York Knicks, the expectation is that you have the guts to show your face around the arena, no matter what.

Of course, that's not the case. Nothing ever seems to be the case in Kyrie Irving's flat-earth world. Irving missed Sunday's Knicks-Nets matchup with a shoulder injury, but according to coach Kenny Atkinson, he was expected to show up to the game in some capacity, which was being played at MSG.

In Kyrie-like fashion, he chose to not show up at all.

Irving's name has been in the news in recent days, and it hasn't been good. Most recently, he was accused by Kendrick Perkins of faking his shoulder injury in order to avoid his reunion games with the Cleveland Cavaliers and Boston Celtics (as well as a hostile MSG that initially wanted to sign him) on the Nets' upcoming road trip.

Without him, the Nets still managed to grind out a 103-101 win against their cross-borough rivals, who have a number of problems themselves.

This is becoming an issue for Irving, whose volatile personality has led to a myriad of questions concerning whether he can lead a team on his own, or if he's going to continually crumble under the pressure and weight of having to front a team all by himself, as he seemingly did in Boston.

This is bad news for the Nets, who will definitely welcome back Kevin Durant next season with the expectation that he'll shoulder the load in place of Kyrie, both in terms of leadership and on-the-court play.