In August 2018, Irving and his older sister were honored with a "welcome home" ceremony at Standing Rock Indian Reservation, acknowledging their family ties to the community, and in gratitude for Irving's activism on behalf of the water protectors at the Dakota Access Pipeline protests. Irving's mother was known to the tribe, though she was "adopted out" at a young age, and their late grandmother and great-grandparents also had ties to the reservation community.[173][174][175] Since then, he has continued to honor his Lakota heritage through donations to the tribe, designing Nike shoes dedicated to the Lakota people, as well as burning sage before every game.[176][177][178] In 2021, his petition for citizenship was granted and he became an enrolled member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe.[7][8]