Trash talk has forever been a staple of the NBA especially when trying to get into players heads while their at the free-throw line. The New Orleans Pelicans opened their season on the road against the Brooklyn Nets and pulled off a solid win, but not without some good old trash talking between CJ McCollum and Kyrie Irving.

In an appearance with Izzy Gutierrez of ESPN, CJ McCollum recalled how he tried to get Kyrie Irving to miss a pair of free-throws during the game against the Nets. Irving wasn't having it, however.

“We're playing Brooklyn and I was like, ‘box out here, box out here,' and Ky was like, ‘for what?' McCollum said on Irving's response.

Getting into opposing players head's during pivotal free-throws have been done numerous times before. One of the most memorable moments was in Game 1 of the 1997 NBA Finals between the Chicago Bulls and Utah Jazz. Karl Malone was at the free-throw line with the game tied at 82 and only 9.2 seconds left. Scottie Pippen famously delivered the line, ‘the mailman don't deliver on Sunday,' and Malone would miss both free-throws that set up Michael Jordan's game-winning shot.

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Gutierrez' segment with McCollum comes on the heels of Damian Lillard talking his own smack to Deandre Ayton during the Portland Trail Blazers overtime win over the Phoenix Suns. With the Suns trailing by two and only 1.2 second remaining, Ayton was at the line to shoot two. Lillard asked him if he had ever been in that situation before and Ayton missed both.

According to McCollum the point of trash talking during free-throws is to get the opposing player to start thinking as he tried to do with Irving.

“Most often, you walk by them and you say something that will stick with them, McCollum said. “Whether that's ‘don't miss,' or ‘don't think about it too much.'

It's safe to say though that McCollum's tactic didn't quite work on Irving. The Pelicans got the last laugh though as they beat the Nets.