Kyrie Irving Reportedly Never Wanted LeBron Back on the Cavs

Many an NBA fan has questioned why Kyrie Irving would request a trade from the Cavs in the summer of 2017. He had the best player alive on his team—why leave?

Winslow Townson
USA Today Sports

Image via USA Today Sports

Winslow Townson

Many an NBA fan has questioned why Kyrie Irving would request a trade from the Cavs in the summer of 2017. He had the best player alive on his team, and they'd just made three straight Finals appearances—why leave?

Per a new report, however, Kyrie never wanted LeBron James to return to Cleveland in the first place. The Athletic's Jason Lloyd shared that insight during an appearance on 92.3 The Fan in Cleveland. Lloyd shared a story from LeBron's time in Miami that's pretty telling.

It has been made clear to me by multiple people: Kyrie never really wanted LeBron to come back in the first place, that he didn't think that 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,' or something like that. And Kyrie went in the locker room and basically said, 'We don't need that. What's he talking about? We don't need that guy.' He didn't want him here in the first place. He didn't think the Cavs needed LeBron. He didn't want him here in the first place. That's been told to me by many, many, many people throughout the organization.

It's not entirely surprising, given what we've since learned about the dynamics between Kyrie and LeBron. The Cavs' previous General Manager, David Griffin, recently shared a story implying something similar—that Kyrie wasn't factoring LeBron into his future in Cleveland, and then the move happened suddenly.

Regardless, both sides seem to be happy now—LeBron is (finally) in L.A., and Kyrie is gearing up for his return to the court in Boston. All's well that ends well, right?

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