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Kyrie Irving’s Sage-Burning Ritual Reportedly Produced Weird Vibe Between Him And James Harden

James Harden and Kyrie Irving haven’t said much publicly regarding their relationship and situation as teammates in Brooklyn, but it appeared that the two players didn’t have much of a fruitful connection at all based off recent reports.

After earlier reports suggested that Harden had grown frustrated with Irving’s part-time status with the Nets, a recurring theme has now surfaced that depicted Harden’s annoyance with his former Nets teammate.

According to Joe Vardon of the Athletic, the two players once shared a weird vibe after Harden watched Irving perform his sage-burning pre-game ritual inside their locker room during their match against Cleveland last month.

The Nets were in Cleveland Jan. 17. In their locker room before the game, Kyrie Irving lit ablaze some sage — a Native American ritual Irving has embraced to cleanse negative energy. Irving doesn’t do this before every game, but he apparently still feels haunted by parts of his past on the Cavs. So he lit his torch.

Harden, according to sources who were in the room when it happened, was seated in front of his locker, watching Irving, and looked at Kyrie like he had three heads.

“Definitely a weird vibe between them,” one source said. “You could tell Harden was annoyed, and Kyrie wasn’t feeling James.”