With LeBron James‘ return to Cleveland right around the corner, Joe Vardon of The Athletic revisits the 2017 trade that sent Kyrie Irving to Boston and contributed to James’ decision to leave the Cavaliers for the Lakers in 2018. As LeBron tells Vardon, the Irving deal with the Celtics helped signal the end of an era in Cleveland.
“Everyone knows that when Kyrie got traded it was the beginning of the end for everything,” James said. “It’s not a secret.”
In his account of how that Irving deal got done, Vardon writes that James spoke on the phone to Cavs general manager Koby Altman the day the trade was agreed upon. Vardon cites four separate people present for the conversation who say that – at the end of the call – Altman told LeBron the trade wouldn’t happen. However, the deal was completed shortly thereafter.
Cavaliers officials who spoke to Vardon denied that Altman gave James any assurances that the deal wouldn’t happen, adding that Altman asked LeBron if he’d commit long-term to the Cavs if they kept Irving, and he said no. In any case, James doesn’t feel as if Altman lied to him, according to Vardon — instead, the GM may have simply been overruled by team owner Dan Gilbert.
“You realize at that point in time, take nothing from Koby, because Koby (was just named GM),” LeBron said. “But at that point in time, you realize that Koby’s not the only one running the team, as (former GM David Griffin) had done, and that’s why Griff was let go pretty much.”
While the Cavaliers still earned a spot in the NBA Finals without Irving, they were quickly dispatched by the Warriors, prompting James to seek a new challenge in free agency. Now a Laker, the four-time MVP will make his return to Cleveland this week, with the Cavs scheduled to host the Lakers on Wednesday.
As for Irving, he declined comment today when asked about his response to James’ comments, telling reporters that he’s done talking about his time in Cleveland (video link via Abby Chin of NBC Sports Boston).
I wouldn’t touch this one with a 50 foot pole, except to say Kyrie has said “Thank you Boston for getting me out of Cleveland,” and that’s all that needs to be said. End of story.
If lebron wasn’t selfish and signed a long term deal wiry the Cavs guaranteed Kyrie stays.
That’s a pretty ignorant guarantee considering Kyrie has constantly been saying for (going on two years now) that Boston is a real sports town, he doesn’t feel like he’s playing in someone’s shadow, etc.
Real NBA fans pretty much know the people behind superstar players and how that effects where they wanna play. For James, it’s his family and business first. For Kyrie, it’s his family and friends first. There were rumors that his dad was always pissed about the level of treatment his close ones got compared to James’ group and this irked him and Kyrie to no end. They wanted the same treatment as LBJ. They felt disrespected. Go back and watch Kyrie run to his dad after Game 7 of the 16 finals. Not his teammates. Go back and look at all of Kevin Love and LBJ’s insta and Twitter posts with the team. Kyrie was almost never with them. I guarantee Kyrie’s dad and close ones wanted him to leave more than he did. They convinced him, at least that’s what I believe.
Who can blame Kyrie? LeBron’s lack of commitment to the Cavs is the main reason other stars stayed away.
LeBron has no sense of accountability to teammates or the organization, but he demands it from them.
LeBron is the selfish one for Kyrie leaving? Y’all never quit with the nonsense
I’m not saying he’s selfish. I think LeBron was entitled to those things when he returned. Kyrie wanted them after a few all-star appearances. Bron came back a champion and put the team ahead of the pack and on his back when Love and Irving played like crap. That’s the difference. Kyrie is getting better at that but he’s made of glass.
Kyrie wanted out of Cleveland, so did LeBron. They both got what they wanted.
Had Kyrie committed to the cavs and lebron left, Kyrie would have been in the same predicament he was when he first came in the league. Lebron puts his career first that is the reason why Kyrie left.
Thank you.
Do you think players should not put their career first? Do you think other players do not put their career first?
Other players don’t control their owners like LeBron does. Everything turned out fine for Kyrie and LeBron. Everybody is happy now.
Clearly he didn’t control the owner since he left lol
Irving will have Love this time?
Kyrie wanted out of Cleveland. People here don’t understand it. He’s happy now. Boston is struggling right now, and it’s Kyrie keeping them afloat. He’s getting 20 a game and had 43 the other night.
If he just wanted out of Cleveland then LeBron not telling Cavs whether he would stay wouldn’t make a difference then.
Lebron is no leader. Everywhere is has gone is a disaster after he leaves. He does not develop young players and blames coaches for his failures. Look at LA no other talents wants to sign to play with lebum
The day KD signed with GSW was the beginning of the end.
LBJ as always was a true gentleman, Kyrie only time will tell but he is not a gentleman that is for sure, Boston will see him going this summer (hopefully) after giving them his word. Boston will be way better without him, the team needs a Rondo type of PG pass first, KI only passes when he can’t shoot, stats don’t lie 5 APG not good enough for a PG. Also he is one of the worst PG in the league when it comes to defence.
You “””””obviously”””” haven’t spoken to Danny Ainge or Brad Stevens lately. The Indian tribe that Kyrie’s mom came from, and Kyrie visited seemed to consider him a gentleman. They made him an honorary member of their tribe.
Haha!!Foolproof logic here..
Exactly. Even if the Cavs still had him, he wouldn’t help us win. He’s made of glass like Love is.
LeBron’s a true gentleman that abandons his teammates, coaches and organizations? Gentlemen simply don’t do that. Nor do they throw others under the bus and make excuses when they fail.
Tru dat
It’s a players market. Ainge and Stevens want to keep him so they’re going to say he’s the greatest this or that they they’ve ever seen and make sure to say nothing but nice things. That’s what those kind of guys in power do when they’re technically already selling Boston as a permanent home to an Allstar
They didn’t offer for Kawhi, Paul George, or Butler what they offered for Kyrie. They felt like he was one of the best players in the NBA and let everyone know they wanted him bad.
The package for Kyrie waa trash.
You right even Philly offer a lot more to Minny for Butler than what Boston did for KI, but then again Butler is a better player, see what he did to Kemba the other night, KI can never win a match like that.
When it comes to Kyrie, your word means nothing. Then again your word means nothing anyway. The people in Boston love Kyrie.
Kyrie had 43 against Toronto.
Many thanks for the respect you show to anyone who has a different opinion than you. Must be great to be always right, have a nice evening.
KI being traded, sure, but also the feeble return package they got for him. He had two years left on his contract. You’ll never get equal value in total for a great player, so the worst thing you can do is dilute the return further by not having a clear focus (win-now or rebuild assets), as it limits the market and further dilutes the return. SA and Minn were in a much worse positions with KL and JB. Who knows if LeBron leaves in any case, but if there was doubt, that deal likely sealed it. Not a single thing in that deal had the potential to help him a great deal last year or this one.
They were totally rolling the dice on Isiah but they also expected a lot more from Crowder too. They wanted him to hit free agency as a champion and get paid like Delly and Mozgov did and a team like Miami, Orlando, Portland, BROOKLYN, would’ve certainly paid him. Especially the latter.
With a year as shot as this, I wish they’d give Zizic more time, especially since Tristan is the only good forward we have atm. Would’ve been nice had Brooklyn lost more games and that pick turns into Bagley or Trey or one of those guys instead of Collin but he might be decent with a lotta, lotta, lotta practice.
Easy to believe Gilbert made the Irving trade, not GM Altman. Gilbert liked IT because they’re both short.
Gilbert had a week to cancel it but with so many jounalists saying what a great deal Altman made, he did not. The media also thought the Wolves won the Butler trade, and that the Thunder won the George trade. The latter is possible.
Of course there might not have been a better deal. Popovich made an unknown offer.
Irving forced the trade dishonorably, having two years left on his contract.
Poor baby and baby daddy were unhappy because baby wasn’t considered the equal of Lebron boo hoo.
He is not the equal, nor is he local. He made no attempt at leadership, with or without Lebron around, then complained because he didn’t have it.
Lebron did what he returned to do, he is not to blame for FO operations. Gilbert could have gotten Kemba for the last year of the window but he kept the future pick instead. Many in the media and in comment sections agree with that, for whatever that’s worth.
“Warriors will win anyway” they say. Cavs had the 1st & 2nd games won ON THE ROAD WITHOUT any payoff from the trade. Pride wenteth before the fall.
Gilbert told LeBron up front to let him know how to prepare the team for the future. He wouldn’t. He forced Gilbert to trade Kyrie and trade for the young guys. If LeBron would have said he was staying, he might not have made those trades. It’s all hindsight now. LeBron did what was best for LeBron. Kyrie did what was best for Kyrie. What’s wrong with that? Gilbert did what was best for “his” future, not LeBron’s.
how many elite players chased a ring with lebron cavs and lakers? none because no one can stand him, ask kyrie
For those who say Kyrie played terrible in 2016 Finals, Game 1-26 pts, Game 2-10 pts, LeBron had 19, Cavs blown out 110-77, Game 3-30 pts, Game 4-34, Game 5-41 pts, Game 6-23 pts, Game 7-26 pts. Kyrie hit game winning 3 point shot. Kyrie did his job.