Brooklyn Nets star Kyrie Irving had some very strong words for his critics in the wake of his recent controversial comments, as he noted the team must get some upgrades to truly contend for a championship.

Coming off a loss to the Philadelphia 76ers, his third game back since a two-month absence due to a shoulder injury, Irving rattled off the names of his teammates — indirectly excluding them from potential trade conversations and viewing them as the core of the team.

His comments received plenty of backlash from TV networks and social media, and he responded on Friday morning:

“It's not like I'm an a**hole yelling at everybody in the freaking locker room all the time … I'm gonna continue to push and I'm gonna continue to demand greatness out of myself and demand greatness out of my teammates and we go from there.

“If it's harsh as a leader or it's too much for anybody, you're not in our locker room — stay the f*** out. It's as simple as that.”

Irving has had plenty of honest conversations with the media and acted unapologetically. He did so last season with the Boston Celtics in the wake of his constant indecision regarding free agency. He did it with the Cleveland Cavaliers during times when the team struggled.

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Now he's doing it for a Brooklyn Nets team that is 5-9 with him as the starter and 13-13 without — a trend that has now followed him since his stint in Beantown.

Irving is making demands three games after a two-month absence and getting torched by the media because he has yet to prove he's a capable leader as an alpha dog.

Asking the Nets to improve their roster after bringing in his two best friends (Kevin Durant and DeAndre Jordan) on multi-year deals in the summer seems like a rather ghastly power move, especially when the team managed to stay in playoff contention without his services.