Here come the hit pieces & bad press
Its almost cliche at this point.

In sports, we have to have a villain just as badly as we need the hero. KD is out at least a year and injured himself in an attempt to will his team to a title,, so the media can't kill him. The Evil Empire in GS has major cracks in the foundation & for the first time in 5 years, will possibly be considered the underdog in the postseason (if they make it.) Lebron had his run as villain, so that's old ground to tread. Westbrook performed so poorly this postseason that it'd be downright pointless to pile on further. Kwahi is the current hero propped up because he toppled the Evil Empire in GS. Harden & CP3 aren't that controversial with a microphone in front of them and are already battling in the locker room. So that leaves Kyrie, who didn't have the best season & is notoriously flippant of the media.

Media pundits view themselves almost as important to the game as the players, so when you brush them off, they get really tight and will form like Voltron to stick it to you. Throwing in the tidbit about him declining to sign autographs for charity? Yeah, there's definitely a hit out on him with the media. They want a new villain to print headlines and discuss on the airwaves.