Cleveland’s Kyrie Irving missed OKC game because of bed bugs, not the flu

Kyrie Irving had a rough night Saturday, causing him to miss most of Cleveland’s 115-92 win in Oklahoma City the next day.

“Just imagine how freaked out you’d be if you saw friggin’ five big ... bed bugs just sitting on your pillow,” Irving told reporters Monday. “I woke up itching and I’m just looking around and I’m like, ‘Are you serious right now?’ It was 3 a.m. and I was so tired at that point.”

Irving played for just nine minutes the following day before leaving the game with what the team initially called flu-like symptoms. But the star guard later revealed he was just feeling the effects of getting very little sleep at the Skirvin Hilton in Oklahoma City the night before.

“As you can see, I got it at the top of my head,” Irving said Monday, showing a bite mark on his forehead. “It’s just like, bed bugs, and I didn’t get any sleep. We came into the game, then I was freaked out, then I started feeling nauseous, so it was just a whole bunch of B.S., honestly.”

He added: “I wound up sleeping on the couch, waking up, my back was tight. It was a long night two nights ago. I just wanted to get back home to Cleveland.”

A Skirvin spokesperson confirmed to ESPN.com that Irving’s room did have bed bugs.

“Unfortunately, every hotel occasionally has a case of bed bugs,” the spokesperson said. “This is one of those cases where a guest did bring in bed bugs to this particular room, and it was reported to us, fortunately, and we responded immediately and put the room out of order and all of the surrounding rooms to be inspected by a professional company.

“We actually had the company come out first thing [Monday] morning, and we found it was an isolated case in the one room, and we’re taking the necessary steps to remediate the problem.”