In March last year, former Brooklyn Nets guard Kyrie Irving made changes to his management team by hiring his stepmother Shetellia Riley Irving to act as his agent, writer for The Athletic Shams Charania reported. It made Shetellia Riley Irving the only Black woman representing an active NBA player, the report added.
“Brooklyn Nets star Kyrie Irving has hired Shetellia Riley Irving as his new agent. Shetellia Riley Irving is believed to currently be the only Black woman representing an active NBA player,” Charania tweeted.
In February this year, Kyrie Irving was traded from the Brooklyn Nets to the Dallas Mavericks, and it’s now being reported that he will stay with the Mavericks. The Dallas Morning News reported on Friday that the 31-year-old All-Star has agreed to a three-year, $126 million contract with a player option for the 2025-26 season.
Kyrie Irving and his stepmother Shetellia Irving had planned to meet with other teams but decided that “Dallas would be our place,” Shetellia Irving told CBS Sports, according to Bill Reiter. The deal would reportedly make Shetellia Irving the first Black woman to negotiate and complete an NBA contract, reporter Charania tweeted. Details of the deal are yet to be confirmed as NBA rules do not allow teams and players to officially sign and announce new contracts until the free agency moratorium lifts, The Dallas Morning News said.
Prior to putting his mother in charge as his agent, Kyrie Irving was managed by Roc Nation and Jeff Wechsler. He first hired Roc Nation in 2019 after moving on from agent Jeff Wechsler. Kyrie Irving, who is among some players who are unvaccinated, set aside $1.5 million in July 2020 to support WNBA players who opted not to play the rest of the 2020 season be it as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic or to pursue social justice endeavors. On December 10 that year, he also paid off the tuition of nine graduating students at Lincoln University, an HBCU in Pennsylvania.
Kyrie Irving also donated $323,000 to Feeding America to help provide meals to people impacted by COVID-19 and partnered with City Harvest to donate 250,000 meals across the New York area to help marginalized communities get food.
Just two years ago, it was reported that he bought a house for the family of George Floyd, the Black man who passed away after a Minneapolis cop was filmed kneeling on his neck for several minutes despite pleading that he could not breathe.
