Kyrie Irving Explains Trade From Cleveland Cavs While Playing W/ LeBron James, Says There Was No Animosity Between The Two: I Asked For A Trade Because I Was Looking For Something Different

Kyrie Irving Explains Trade From Cleveland Cavs While Playing W/ LeBron James, Says There Was No Animosity Between The Two: I Asked For A Trade Because I Was Looking For Something Different

Kyrie Irving is setting the record straight when it comes to rumors about his relationship with former teammate, Lebron James!

One year after winning the 2016 Cleveland Cavaliers’ NBA championship alongside Lebron James, 37, Kyrie Irving, 30, requested a trade from the team, which quickly created speculation about why he wanted to leave. Many sports fans assumed Lebron James played a part in the abrupt departure.

LeBron James

Now, the Brooklyn Nets star is opening up about the long-time speculation and explained the situation in the latest episode of the I Am Athlete podcast. According to Kyrie Irving, his trade wasn’t because of a feud with Los Angeles Lakers star Lebron James. He explained,

“We gotta be cool as brothers whether we’re playing together or we’re not playing together. We have to protect one another because it will seep into family life where people would really think that we don’t like each other based on us not being able to play together anymore…’You asked for a trade, so you must hate that dude!’ It wasn’t that. That was the furthest thing from the truth. It was not true. That’s not true.”

Kyrie Irving

Kyrie continued,

“So I had to defend myself, [LeBron James] had to defend himself. And it’s like, I’m trying to put that to bed so I could continue to build my own legacy, but I’m continuously reminded over and over again, ‘Yo, you left ‘Bron, how could you do that?’ You got his fanbase, you got my fanbase, you got team fanbases going at it, ‘Yo, why couldn’t this work?'”

Kyrie Irving responds to fans asking why did he ask for a trade from the Cavs while playing with Lebron James pic.twitter.com/wGHdqf7zRx

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Kyrie went on to explain the reason behind his trade.

“I asked for a trade because I was looking for something different. I was a man of my word when I went to the organization. I sat with the higher-ups down and said, ‘Look, I know y’all have future plans, tell me right now.’ They told me their future plans. I said, ‘Look, this isn’t for me.’ Shared that with them. Didn’t get a chance to talk to ‘Bron before the media ended up coming out and saying I asked for a trade.” 

He then revealed that while in China on a Nike tour, news about the trade request surfaced and made headlines before he was able to speak with Lebron James about his decision.

“But as soon as I got over to China, boom, now it’s ‘Bron’s tempted to do this, Kyrie’s saying it’s about this. And that’s not the image I want to create. Me and him never had beef like that. That was never our energy that we had. ‘Oh, Kyrie wasn’t talking to the team for the last month.’ They started throwing all of these things, they created the whole thing.”

(See the full interview below:)

The Cleveland Cavaliers traded Kyrie Irving to the Boston Celtics on Aug. 30, 2017. He played in Boston for two years before leaving for the Brooklyn Nets in free agency. After Irving’s departure, Lebron James played in Cleveland for one more season, leading the Cavs to the 2018 NBA Finals. He then left in free agency for the Los Angeles Lakers, where he’s played the last four years.

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