The Dallas Mavericks suffered an eventful defeat to the Charlotte Hornets on Sunday with veteran guard Kyrie Irving among the headlines.

Irving is no stranger to heckling, but took issue with comments made by a middle-aged fan in the crowd before proceeding to get him ejected by security.

We now have footage of Irving responding to the fan as he's getting ejected and can hear exactly what was said by the Mavs star.

“Say it to my face,” Kyrie Irving told the fan. “Apologize. Apologize. That's what I thought!”

Irving would go on to touch on the incident further during the post-game press conference, though it's still not clear what exactly the heckler told him.

“He just called me on my name, so I just had to make sure I looked him eye-to-eye, see if he would say it to my face,” Irving said. “A lot of fans say things when you’re turning your head or say it in the crowd cause they can get away with it, but, majority of the time if I could look a fan in the face and see if they really want to say that to me.

RECOMMENDED (Article Continues Below)
Goran Dragic (normal clothes) eyes popping out looking at Mavericks' Luka Doncic shooting a basketball.

Joey Mistretta ·

Kyrie Irving in a Nets jersey saying "I don't feel like playing today," and Rajon Rondo in a Celtics jersey celebrating his own birthday.

Spencer See ·

Mavericks Clippers prediction

Jake Faigus ·

“So he yelled it, I handled it.”

Irving and the Mavs have bigger problems to worry about. Their loss to Charlotte was their fourth in a row as they are now outside the play-in spots and in serious danger of missing out on the playoffs this year.

To make matters worse, Luka Doncic picked up his 16th technical against the Hornets and will now be suspended for what is a crucial game against the Indiana Pacers on Monday.