Kyrie Irving and LeBron James reportedly had a rough relationship from the moment James left the sandy shores of South Beach.
It turns out Kyrie Irving never really wanted LeBron James to return to the Cavaliers in 2014 at all, according to three reporters discussing the players’ chemistry Thursday on 92.3 The Fan in Cleveland.
“It has been made clear to me by multiple people, Kyrie never really wanted LeBron to come back in the first place,” Jason Lloyd of The Athletic said on the broadcast. “He didn’t think it was necessary.
“LeBron said something to Kyrie on the court following a game when he was with Miami something to the effect of, ‘Keep going, keep doing what you’re doing. You never know, I could be back here one day.’ And Kyrie basically said, ‘What’s he talking about, we don’t need him.'”
ESPN’s Dave McMenamin added, “Kyrie and his camp considered asking for a trade after the championship. They decided to keep it in-house and not go forward with it, but it was something they discussed.”
Irving asked for a trade a year later instead and was sent to the Celtics for Isaiah Thomas. James has since moved on, too, opting to sign with the Lakers when free agency started earlier this month.
James and Irving were believed to have had a tumultuous relationship during their time together. Five months after he was traded, Irving was reported to have said, “They didn’t want me there.”
James later replied to the comment: “That makes absolutely no sense.”
Irving told Bulls guard Jimmy Butler last year that he wanted to leave Cleveland before anyone else and wanted to play with him in Chicago, The Chicago Sun-Times reported. But the Bulls never really had the assets to trade for him.
Irving missed the end of last season after undergoing surgery to remove two screws from his left knee that were put there for an injury he suffered during the 2015 NBA Finals.
James led the Cavaliers to the NBA Finals this year without Irving, though they were swept by the Warriors. His arrival in Los Angeles launched a number of free agent signings, including Rajon Rondo and James’ old provocateur, Lance Stephenson.
In three years together, the Irving-James duo made it to three NBA Finals, famously coming back from a 3-1 deficit against the Warriors in 2016.
Irving, a native of West Orange, N.J., is reportedly eyeing free agency in 2019 and has ties to the Knicks, who are already planning a free-agent splurge for next summer.