Kyrie Irving and LeBron James share a weird relationship with each other. Playing the apprentice’s role in their partnership in Cleveland, Kyrie clearly wanted more and hence decided to be the master of another ship, elsewhere.
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He left for greener pastures and ended up with the Celtics, a team where he was the leader and the go-to guy.
However, as is the case with the ‘grass seems greener on the other side’; Kyrie soon realised how tough it was to lead an organisation.
He apologised to LeBron for the way he behaved in Cleveland, always wanting everything on his terms and not thinking about the bigger picture.
Now, since that last Kyrie statement, a lot has happened in the NBA, with the Lakers almost definitely out of playoff contention, following a mean run of games in February and early March.
Currently sitting on a 5 game losing streak, with Lonzo and Brandon Ingram ruled out for the season; it seems as if the Lakers are not preparing themselves for the draft and have given up on the playoffs this time round.
The grand Lakers downfall started after LeBron’s injury during their Christmas day win against the Warriors.
The young core didn’t really step up to the plate during the 17 games that LeBron James missed and hence the Lakers found themselves drifting away from that playoff spot.
LeBron James’ return did bring in some positivity initially, but that was all shot down by the infamous Anthony Davis trade saga, one that divided the Lakers locker room to some extent.
Speaking to the media during the Lakers-Celtics Saturday showdown, Kyrie Irving commented on LeBron James’ poor season with the Lakers.
The Celtics man admitted that he felt sorry for his former teammate, as his injury came at a very wrong time fir him and the franchise.
Not getting into the playoffs would hurt LeBron, and Kyrie understood that.
“You’re coming to a team like that and you have a lot of the responsibility, and you come back in the middle of the regular season, it’s hard because now other teams are gearing up for the playoffs, that next level of play,” Irving said as quoted by The Athletic.
“Whenever you don’t get a chance to do that, and you’ve been doing it for the last, what, 10 years, getting to the playoffs? I feel for him,” he added.
Kyrie then went onto once again admit that he did not quite like the attention LeBron received back in Cleveland. However, becoming the main man in Boston has given him perspective about how the ‘main man’ has all the focus of his teammates and the positive and negative media attention.
“The deal that I had to become aware of, that I was signing up for, was like once you become one of the most coveted guys in the league, you’re signing up for basically, like you’re going to be attacked for the rest of your career,” Irving said to The Athletic. ”
“You’re going to be praised. You’re going to be brought up, you’re going to be brought down because that’s just the nature of the business.” he added.
Do you think the media criticism of LeBron James has gone a little overboard?
