The Brooklyn Nets guard shared why he felt the late Lakers superstar was the “standard for our generation”.

Video Transcript

KYRIE IRVING: Well, number one, I think as a native Black man, as a native Black king, you know, I think it's part of my responsibility to continue to push our generation, our culture forward. I know that it probably was met with some people that love it-- I love the idea-- and some people that don't like it. But my thing is paying homage to the example that has been set by that man. He's 17 years old. We're drafting guys even younger now, guys that are coming out of different places, and he was the standard for our generation, and he will continue on. And I want that to be something in history that is changed forever, that our generation was part of that change, and, you know, if that means that I have to lead that forward and get the conversation going, then great.

But, you know, I think he deserves it. I think his family deserves it. I think we deserve it as seeing greatness personified as Mamba. And anyone that's come into the league should know that that's the example that was set. And I'm only saying that just speaking about Kob, I don't want to discredit any of our other historical players that have done amazing things for the league. I'm not discrediting anyone when I say that Kob should be the logo because we have so many examples of guys that did things on and off the floor that were leaps and bounds for us to be where we are now. So I'm just saying present-day.

I think it was 2/24, so a year-- year after the memorial and, you know, it's just a refresher that this is the guy for us, that he's the guy from me as my mentor-- more than just an inspiration. I took a lot of knowledge and wisdom from that guy and he's always around me and Gigi's always around me. And I know that in the women's game we want to continue to push things forward, but in our game, too, we want to set a standard and a precedent, like, this is excellence-- Kobe Bryant, logo, yes, needs to happen. I don't care what anyone says, Black kings built the league. It's exactly what I meant. It's exactly where I stand.