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LeBron Responds to Kyrie Irving’s Apparent Digs

LeBron James and Kyrie Irving had a great run together.  The two of them brought a championship to the Cavaliers. It was a team effort, and LeBron was all about mentoring Kyrie. Once they split up, Kyrie started to say things that might make you scratch your head. For instance, he said he’s excited to play with Kevin Durant, and one of the reasons that excites him is because he has another guy who he can “Trust in the Clutch”

“One thing I’ve always been comfortable with, I felt like I was the best option on every team I played for down the stretch,” Irving said on the podcast. “This is the first time in my career I’ve looked down and be like, ‘That motherf—er can make that shot too.’ And he’ll probably do it a lot easier.

“It’s not so much deferring, because in past situations where I didn’t take the last shot, I felt guilty. I want this game-winning shot, but also, you want to trust your teammates. Not that I didn’t trust my teammates, but I felt like I was the best option.”


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James was a guest on the Road Trippin’ podcast with Richard Jefferson, Channing Frye and Allie Clifton, and he addressed Irving’s comments.

“I was a little like, ‘Damn.’ Once I got the whole transcript, I was like, ‘Damn,'” James said, adding that he made sure to read Irving’s full comments before reacting to them. “I wasn’t like, ‘Oh, you trippin’. I’ve hit game-winning shots my whole life.’ I was not like that. I was like, ‘Damn.’ Because … I played with Kyrie for three seasons [with the Cleveland Cavaliers]. The whole time when I was there, I only wanted to see him be a MVP of our league. I only cared about his success. And it just didn’t align. It just didn’t align. And we were able to win a championship. That’s the craziest thing. We were still able to win a championship, and we could never align. But I only cared about his well-being, both on and off the floor.

“And it kind of hurt me a little bit.”

Kyrie and LeBron played in  three straight Finals together, and won it all in 2016. That sounds like a pretty good teammate to me. Kyrie is just different, but to throw LeBron under the bus after what they did together is just ridiculous.

One day maybe Kyrie will look back at his time with LeBron and realize how much he did for his career.


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