After offering to cover Azeez Al-Shaair's fine for his eye black that honored Hind Rajab, a five-year-old Palestinian girl who was killed by the Israeli military in 2024, NBA star Kyrie Irving called out ESPN.

His call-out of ESPN came on X, formerly Twitter. Irving posted several pictures of Rajab while calling out the sports network. He said that Rajab “was more brave” than anyone at ESPN.

“Her name is HIND RAJAB,” Irving wrote with a variety of emojis. “And She was more brave than every single one of you at ESPN.”

Her name is HIND RAJAB💐🌷
🤞🏾🪶♾❤️

And She was more brave than every single one of you at ESPN https://t.co/nw4gZiPerM pic.twitter.com/dm5GixOZi9

— Kyrie🤞🏾 (@KyrieIrving) September 17, 2026

Irving's post was in response to ESPN's post, which did not mention Rajab by name. This clearly upset the Dallas Mavericks guard.

This came a day after Irving publicly offered to cover Al-Shaair's fine from the NFL. The Houston Texans linebacker was fined $11,492 by the NFL for inscribing “Hind Rajab” on his eye black.

Al-Shaair wore Rajab's name on his eye black during the Texans' Week 1 loss to the Buffalo Bills. The vaunted Texans' defense gave up over 300 yards and four total touchdowns (two rushing, two passing) to Josh Allen. Al-Shaair led his team with eight tackles (five solo, three assists).

This was not the first instance of Al-Shaair being fined by the NFL for a message on his eye black. During the Texans' playoff game against the Pittsburgh Steelers earlier this year, he wrote “Stop The Genocide” on his eye black. This resulted in a $11,593 fine.

Irving is heading into his fourth year with the Dallas Mavericks. He was traded to the Mavericks by the Brooklyn Nets during the 2022-23 NBA season. He has spent most of his career with the Cleveland Cavaliers, who drafted him with the first pick in the 2011 NBA Draft out of Duke.