When LeBron James announced in the Summer of 2014 that he would be returning to Cleveland, the eyes of the NBA world immediately turned to wunderkind Kyrie Irving. The brilliant point guard had made a name for himself with his insane ball-handling, second-to-none finishing ability, and fantastic Uncle Drew Pepsi commercials, but his Cavs squad had never really competed during his young career. Some wondered whether his game could translate to a winning environment, and there were certainly growing pains, but by the time Irving went down with a broken kneecap in the NBA Finals, any lingering questions had been answered. Kyrie Irving was a superstar and he, along with LeBron James and Kevin Love, were going to be a tough core to compete with for years to come.

I sat down with Kyrie while he was shooting his new Uncle Drew Pepsi commercial (which debuts today and you should watch it, because as usual, it's amazing), to discuss all the important issues: His tattoo of the Friends logo, his love of musical theater and comedy, and of course the upcoming NBA season.

So you've got a new Uncle Drew spot, and I know you have a background in theater. How did you get into acting?

Well it all started when I put myself out there in my first high school play my senior year. I was so nervous to get up in front of people and turn into another character, so I was actually pretty awful in the high school musical. Just pretty terrible. But then I started to get used to being in front of people and being in front of the camera and then I was able to be myself. Once I started to understand how to take direction, I was able to actually play a different character, like Uncle Drew.

Your commercial work is notable in that you seem to be actually funny as opposed to "athlete funny." Is that something you pride yourself on? What role does comedy play in your life?

Oh man, whether it's dry humor or broad humor or something else totally, I get into it. Some people are like "I didn't find that funny" just because it's a different kind of comedy than they're used to, but I go completely the opposite way. I want to embrace and get into all different types and facets of comedy. If it's funny, it's funny, no matter where it comes from. There's something great about experiences we can all connect to even if we haven't lived them. Being able to put ourselves in other people's positions, and then being able to laugh about them? I think that's what makes comedy so special to me.

I know you're a fan of the TV show Friends. And we noticed back during the Finals that you had a tattoo of the show's logo on your arm? What led you to get the tattoo? Do you have a favorite episode? Do you have a favorite character?

For me, it was one of those shows that was a little bit ahead of my generation. I was young and didn't really understand the issues they were talking about or even really get the sarcastic tone. I didn't get it until I got older and was watching Nick at Night and TBS, and they played marathons of Friends all the time. One day I sat through probably like a full season of episodes and fell in love with it. Just the way they handled all the relationships on the show. When I was a kid none of that made sense to me, but now I totally related to it.