It’s been a month since Kyrie Irving left LeBron James with his junk in his hand and skated to Boston in a move that seemed motivated by a presumably fragmented relationship between the two stars.
LeBron James spoke publicly about the trade for the first time and expressed his series of emotions following the news.
“I had a ton of emotions,” LeBron said. “You know, I was wondering if there was something I could have did better to make him not want to be traded. Was it the way the season finished. Was it me coming back in the first place. Was it the coaching changes, or the GM change, or, I don’t know.”
James even said that he was ready to hand over the leadership of the franchise to him when the time came.
“I tried to do whatever I could do to help the kid out and so he could be the best player he could be,” LeBron continued. “I tried to give him everything, give him as much of my DNA as I could. As I said throughout [last] season, at some point when he was ready to take over the keys, I was ready to give them to him.”
LeBron did a good job of hiding his disdain for Kyrie, but couldn’t help not jabbing him subtly.
LeBron says he has not spoken with Kyrie. "You guys know Kyrie. Next question." #Cavs
— Tom Withers (@twithersAP) September 25, 2017
James said that the only thing he’s upset about is that Kyrie took all he taught him to Boston. Hash tag humblebrag.
“The only thing I’m upset about is that he took a lot of the DNA and blueprints now to Boston. That’s the only thing I’m upset about, really. Other than that, I mean, I wish the kid great health. The kid wanted to do what was best for his career and I give credit to our GM Koby [Altman] and to the ownership for granting that for him.”
The Celtics are slated to play the Cavs on Oct. 17, the NBA’s opening night, at Cleveland’s Quicken Loans Arena. Let’s go.
[h/t ESPN]