LeBron James wishes he still had Kyrie Irving as a teammate.
As Irving and the Mavericks are set to face the Celtics in the NBA Finals, James spoke on his “Mind the Game” podcast with JJ Redick about missing the time they played together in Cleveland.
“There was nothing on the basketball floor that Kyrie couldn’t do,” James explained. “And sitting here watching it, I’m like, I’m playing like, so f–king happy and so proud to watch him continue his growth and whatever the case may be, and at the same time, I am so f–king mad at the same time that I am not his running mate anymore.”
The Lakers were rumored to be in talks to acquire Irving at last year’s trade deadline, but the Nets sent him to the Mavs instead.
“I have so many words to praise Kyrie that I end up with absolutely none, because it’s just, it’s so, he’s the most gifted player the NBA has ever seen,” James continued. “He has the best gifts I’ve ever seen of any NBA player. I’ve never seen a guy in my NBA life that feels better at times shooting with his off-hand than he does with his primary hand.
“If Kyrie’s off in a game with his right hand, he will literally go exclusively to his left hand. I’ve never seen nothing like that.”
James and Irving won a championship together in Cleveland in 2016.
But after the following season, Irving demanded a trade and was ultimately sent to the Celtics.
At the time, FS1 NBA insider Chris Broussard said Irving caught wind of a Cavaliers plan to execute a series of trades with the Suns and Pacers in which he would have been sent out of town and Cleveland would have received Eric Bledsoe and Paul George.
The only reason the trade didn’t go down, Broussard said at the time, was that James declined to commit to a long-term deal with the Cavs.
There have been other rumors about how James wanted Irving traded for Chris Paul.
Former ESPN reporter Jackie McMullan also said in 2019 that Irving was of the belief that James “wanted him gone.”