Kyrie Irving donates a whopping $22,000 to help a struggling sophomore continue her studies

Kyrie Irving often finds himself in the spotlight for other reasons, but the Brooklyn Nets star has been deeply philanthropic in the past, and that continued this week.

Irving, who is often criticized for his alternative views and behavior, showed his benevolent side on Monday – he donated $22,000 to help a young student stay enrolled at Howard University.

Destiny Thompson, a civil engineering student, started a GoFundMe page with the goal of raising $6,000.

Just two days after her post went live, Irving provided the five-figure sum, leaving Thompson overwhelmed with gratitude and happiness.

Kyrie Irving has often been incredibly philanthropic since he began his NBA career in 2011-12

Destiny Thompson, a sophomore civil engineer at Howard University, started a GoFundMe page with the goal of raising $6,000 to help her stay at the highly respected school

In a video posted to Facebook, Thompson expressed disbelief at Irving’s violent gesture while she was working a shift at Walmart.

“I want to thank you 1,000 times for blessing me so, Mr. Kyrie Irving,” she said.

“I really do not know it. I’m still in shock. I’m at work clearing registers. I just cried a lot of tears. I’m at work, y’all. I don’t understand, I just can’t imagine how generous people can be.

The Nets star made the generous donation to the unsuspecting college students on Monday

“I am so thankful for everyone who shared it, everyone who liked it, commented and gave me words of encouragement and who somehow helped me to move on and essentially.

“I’m just so, so happy and I’m so grateful. I never thought in a million years that anyone would give me anything and I am so incredibly grateful.”

At the time of writing, $23,400 has been donated to Thompson’s cause as she hopes to continue her studies at the historically black research university.

Irving has often been criticized for his occasional left-leaning beliefs in recent NBA seasons

Irving’s generosity may upset some of his critics after the free-thinking 30-year-old received widespread backlash over a link he posted to an Amazon documentary that many have called anti-Semitic.

The Brooklyn star posted a link to the 2018 film Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America, which is based on a 2015 book of the same name that Rolling Stone called “toxically anti-Semitic.”

He was suspended by Brooklyn after the immediately following comments and comments, and returned after eight games on November 20.