“I would never slight LeBron James! I respect the hell out of him”: Kyrie Irving dismisses rumors of him disliking Lakers’ superstar after their 2017 split

Nets’ Kyrie Irving dismisses rumors of any bad blood between him and his former Cavaliers teammate LeBron James

In 2011, the Cleveland Cavaliers selected Kyrie Irving as the first overall pick in the draft. The Cavaliers were struggling when Irving joined, and he showed signs that he could lead them to glory. Everything changed when LeBron James returned to the team in 2014.

The Cavaliers would go to the next four NBA Finals, winning one NBA Championship. LeBron and Kyrie led the Cavs to overcome a 3-1 deficit against the 73-win Golden State Warriors.

On the court, the two worked well together. However, things did not appear to be running smoothly off the court. After the All-Star guard revealed he never had a teammate he trusted to take a last-second shot before joining the Brooklyn Nets, speculation about Irving’s friendship with James grew.

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Irving has been engaging his fans via Twitch since the loss to the Celtics in the first round. Irving has been dropping some truth bombs about his basketball career and the myriad of problems surrounding it, aside from playing many video games.

Kyrie Irving clarifies the rumors surrounding him and LeBron James

Kyrie addressed reports that he despises former colleague and Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James in his most recent stream.

“That’s when they started doing weird shit. When I say ‘they’ I mean the media. They started asking people around me what’s going on, they started asking people what does Kyrie think about this. People started snitching, bro. It was weak. It was weak as f***,” Irving said.

 

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To recall, Irving was portrayed as a villain in the story. Analysts believe he was envious of LeBron James’ position as a second fiddle during their glory days in Cleveland. When Irving’s time in Boston did not go as planned, critics pounced on him. That’s when the seven-time All-Star became evasive and, to a degree, hostile with the press.

Irving speaks well of LeBron James, and it’s safe to assume there is no animosity between the two former teammates.

5️⃣ “Shout out to LeBron,” Kyrie said about the comments.

“I would never slight him… I respect the hell out of him and we’ve been through our own battles as teammates, as competitors together… that shit… that’s like water under the bridge.” pic.twitter.com/lvHHMDOvSB

— Boardroom (@boardroom) May 8, 2022

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Both stars have said they have nothing but respect for one another. If trade rumors are to be believed, there are chances the two might end up playing together next season.