Cleveland Cavaliers superstar LeBron James said he won’t give any advice to former teammate Kyrie Irving, who got his trade request when he was shipped to the Boston Celtics. “I have no advice for him now,” James replied when asked during the Cavaliers media day, per team announcer Fred McLeod. According to Ben Axelrod of WKYC, James further said that if his son went to another team and asked for advice, “I ain’t giving him s**t.”
James admitted to the media that he hasn’t spoken to Kyrie since he was traded to the Celtics for Isaiah Thomas, Jae Crowder, Ante Zizic, the Brooklyn Nets’ 2018 first-round pick and a 2020 second-round pick.
In July, Irving met with Cavs team owner Dan Gilbert and demanded a trade, saying he wanted to be the focal point of a team’s offense and he wanted to play away from James’ shadow. Earlier, Irving mentioned four teams – San Antonio Spurs, Miami Heat, New York Knicks and Minnesota Timberwolves – as possible trade destinations.
James surprised by Irving’s trade demand
According to James, he was surprised by Irving’s trade demand, adding that nobody in the “organization saw this coming”, Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today said. “It was definitely a shock”. When it comes to their relationship now, James said they are just pure rivals and nothing more. James and Irving carried the Cavaliers to the NBA Finals in each of the three seasons that they played together.
They gave the franchise its first NBA title during the 2015-16 season but lost to a stronger Golden State Warriors last season. Before Kyrie demanded a trade, the Cavaliers were expected to beef up their line-up to exact their revenge against the Warriors.
LeBron ready to install Irving as heir-apparent
Brian Windhorst of ESPN reported that James was ready to install Kyrie as his heir-apparent in Cleveland, saying “I tried to help him be as good as he could be.”
In the duration of his media interview Monday, James referred to Irving as “the kid”, which was a cause of their problem as first reported by Stephen A.
Smith of ESPN. According to Smith, Kyrie has grown tired of being treated as a little brother by James. Smith also reported that Irving’s camp believed that James was the one who leaked his trade demand to the media to put him in a bad light and deny him a smooth exit from the team. In a separate report, Smith said James would be tempted to “beat Kyrie’s ass” when they cross paths. James and Irving will first collide as opponents on October 17 when the Cavaliers play host to the Celtics on opening night.
