NBA star Kyrie Irving has commented regarding a potential comeback to Twitch, but fans aren't going to be happy about it. Irving has built up a massive audience on Twitch through a channel he started in early 2022. However, the Dallas Mavericks player hasn't spent much time streaming in 2023. Now fans are hoping that Irving will return since the NBA season has ended for him and the Mavericks. That unfortunately doesn't seem likely, though, based on Irving's comments.Irving is known to be a controversial figure, not only within the NBA but as a prominent online celebrity. On Twitch, however, Irving has largely avoided controversy. He's played some Grand Theft Auto 5, Call of Duty: Black Ops, and the latest game release in the NBA 2K franchise, but mostly he just chats with his viewers about various topics. He hasn't spent much time on Twitch overall, however, though his followers would wish he'd spend more time with them.One of Irving's followers on Twitter sent him a message saying, "We need you back on twitch brotha," and received a response. Irving says that returning to Twitch is "not worth it," because of the way the platform is "treating certain friends of mine there." Irving doesn't clarify which of his friends he's talking about, nor what happened to them that has made him unhappy.
Some fans believe Irving is talking about Twitch streamers Kai Cenat and BruceDropEmOff, who the NBA player has interacted with in livestreams in the past. Kai Cenat is currently banned from Twitch, while BruceDropEmOff has been banned for much of 2023 but is currently unbanned. Irving may believe that the platform has been treating Kai or Bruce unfairly, or perhaps another friend or streamer. It would be understandable if Irving doesn't want to support Twitch if that's the case.
That doesn't mean that Irving isn't interested in doing more streaming in the future, though. He also mentions in the tweet that he and his friends have, "Gotta build us our own platform where ish like that can't happen." In other words, he doesn't want to stream on a platform where moderation will ban people for things he disagrees with. It's notable that Irving mentions making a new platform, rather than potentially moving to the controversial platform Kick.
What's next for Irving in terms of streaming isn't clear. The NBA star has previously streamed across many different platforms, including Twitch, Instagram, TikTok, and with friends on YouTube. While he's avoided streaming much in 2023, it wouldn't be surprising for Irving to show up on one stream or another again soon -- maybe even Twitch. He probably won't announce beforehand, though.