Newly minted Boston Celtics point guard Kyrie Irving had a public fallout with LeBron James. This fallout caused Irving to request a trade from the Cleveland Cavaliers and ended up getting him to Boston.
In his first media appearance as a Celtic, he took to ESPN’s First Take to tackle a number of issues including LeBron James. In regards to James, Irving doesn’t care about the future hall of famers feelings and didn’t even tell him he wanted out of “Believeland”.
Smith: “Did you speak to LeBron James or talk to LeBron James before you or your representatives met with ownership to let them know that you wanted out?”
Irving: “No.”
Smith: “Why not?”
Irving: “Why would I have to?”
Smith: “If you don’t speak to someone about it, they might take it personally.”
Irving: “Yeah.”
Smith: “Do you care about that at all?”
Irving: “No.”
When Irving requested out of Cleveland the Cavs handled the situation poorly and leaked the request to members of the media. For that, Irving was even more at ends with them.
“I felt like the timing was impeccable if you ask me,” Irving explained. “I think how ironic it was that I was on my China trip and how my trade rumors all of a sudden just came out publicly. And it was hurtful because I knew how professional I had kept it throughout the whole entire process, and how strategic it was. Because I knew it was going to be madness, and it turned out to be like that. And when you’re living in a reality-based (world) and I’m a very awake individual and you have all these exterior forces trying to change or skew everyone else’s opinion, and I’m not able to say anything, and I’m sitting back and being very, very patient, it became something that I didn’t understand because of the amount of moments that we had together as a team. .. It was hurtful to see that a lot of the reports, and a lot of things that were happening, there was minimal truth to it.”
When it came down to it though, the culture and environment surrounding Cleveland was a driving factor in making him want out. Part of it admittedly was likely the departure of former GM David Griffen and James’s controlling factor.
“When you think about the journey, and you also put things into perspective for what they really are, it’s a truthful environment. And I wasn’t getting that (in Cleveland). And that’s where it really stands,” he explained.
Despite being considered one of the favorites in the Eastern Conference this season Irving understands a lot of work will need to be put into making the Celtics compete.
“That’s the kind of difficult question that will be asked throughout the entire season until we form our identity,” Irving said when asked about expectations. “Only four guys from last year’s team are returning. It’s totally a new journey. I have high expectations and we share that as a group.”
