Brooklyn Nets superstar Kyrie Irving was indeed one of the most popular players in the league when he first burst onto the pro scene in 2011. But as years went by, the adulation somehow turned into criticism, and he soon found himself developing a notorious reputation around the NBA.

Retired NBA player Rod Strickland, who just happens to be Irving's godfather, recently gave his two cents on why the 6-time All-Star has been receiving hate as of late. According to Strickland, it has a lot to do with how Irving thinks way differently than the average NBA player. While this advanced mindset allows him to be one of the most creative players in the league today, it also opens him to scrutiny from people who don't get him.

“I know his family and I know where he’s from,” Strickland described Kyrie in a lengthy tell-all on the “Heavy Live With Scoop B Show” (via Nets Daily).

“Kyrie’s different. You can just watch him play basketball and tell that he’s different. He thinks different, you know? You can’t do the things he does on the court without being creative, so his mind is different”.

Kyrie Irving, of course, was relentlessly mocked in 2017 when he came out as a believer of the Flat-Earth conspiracy. While he has since apologized for those remarks, he continues to be haunted by that even to this day. His decision to leave the Boston Celtics for the Nets in the summer of 2019 further earned him a bad rep among fans. Uncle Drew once claimed his desire to have his jersey retired by the Celtics one day, only to leave the team after just two seasons.

Irving drew negative headlines once more in the 2019-20 campaign, where he expressed his opposition to continuing the season inside the bubble, despite being unable to play at the time due to injury.

Strickland, however, fully supports Irving's unapologetic way of handling himself throughout these controversies.

“He thinks different and I think people don’t like that. We live in a world now where everybody thinks if you say this and I’m supposed to go along with you and if I’m against that, then I’m wrong. And then you feel that you have to ostracize me or put me down because I’m not speaking the same language you’re speaking,” he added.