Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving's secret handshake raised eyebrows following their 111-118 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans on November 10.
In a video presented by Yahoo! Sports, the two stars of the Cleveland Cavaliers celebrated their win by doing a secret handshake topped by a gesture that appears to some as if they were pretending to smoke marijuana. Both players positioned their right hand near the corner of their mouth with their thumb and index finger pressed together.
Their act garnered more controversy than the Cavs' second win in the season and LeBron James' sensational triple-double stats, which were eventually withdrawn. The NBA has stringent rules against the use of illegal substances like marijuana and sanctions players with a five-game suspension should they be caught a third time.
According to Cleveland.com, the team issued a statement the following night to clarify what Love and Irving were really doing.
The organization said, "To clarify, they are quickly sharpening the end of an imaginary mustache at the end of their exchange with each other. It has nothing to do with smoking a joint as some blogs (and even some mainstream folks now) are suggesting/reporting."
In an ESPN report, Irving replied when he was asked about the controversial handshake, "What's there to clear up? That was an issue?"
Initially, Irving said that he was not aware that their video has gone viral in the past 24 hours. He provided a quick explanation for doubters on November 12 saying, "It's a simple twist of our mustaches. I guess Kevin's hand got a little wild there. But for us, it was literally just a twist of our mustaches. It's just a handshake that we do. We make a little noise afterwards."
Irving added, "You know, that's it. That's it. It might be close to our lip, but it's just a little twist of our mustache. That's it. Does that clear it up?"
Regardless of how people previously responded, Kyrie said that fans should expect to see more of it. Irving said, "We're going to do it more now. This is an awesome handshake we're not going to change. Nothing illegal, nothing we're trying to get across. It's just a simple twist of our mustache right here, that's it."
Fans should also expect to spot a third Cavs player doing the same ritual. "It's just a handshake that me and Kev and one other teammate has. But I'm not going to throw him under the bus," Kyrie said in the same ESPN report.
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