LeBron James has been rumored to be trying to recruit Kyrie Irving to the Lakers for a long time. Initially, the Lakers looked to acquire Irving by the 2023 trade deadline. When that failed, the franchise made further moves during the offseason. In the end, the former Nets guard ended up signing a $126,000,000 extension with the Dallas Mavericks. However, despite failing to add Irving to his team, LeBron James recently went on social media to bestow an incredible honor on his former teammate.
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James and Irving had a great time in Cleveland together, but their relationship was far from perfect. On the court, their games were conducive to bettering the ‘others’ in the team, which resulted in them winning the 2016 NBA championship together. However, Kyrie also wanted his own team where he was the leader. This caused a rift between the two at times before the guard eventually left Cleveland for Boston.
LeBron James calls Kyrie Irving ‘the best player with the ball in his hands…ever’
Kyrie Irving’s time with the Mavericks so far has yielded some negative perceptions. After all, despite being on the same side as Luka Doncic, Irving couldn’t even take Dallas to the play-in tournament last season.
However, fans are well aware of the 31-year-old’s exploits on the basketball court. And when a certain fan decided to announce his bold opinion of the guard, LeBron James backed him up by reposting it on his Instagram stories. Take a look at this tweet by tragicpatek below to see what the King posted.
LeBron with high praise for Kyrie pic.twitter.com/DzcPJCmT35
— tragicpatek (@tragicpatek) July 17, 2023
“This has nothing to do with his[Irving’s] “all-time ranking“ but this is the best player with the ball we ever seen,” a fan named Swoosh wrote on Twitter. James co-signed the take by highlighting the quote and captioning it “EVER!!!!!” It is not that James is calling Kyrie the greatest player of all time or anything of the sort. Instead, he just means that he is the most skilled player ever with the basketball in his hands.
Some may blurt out Stephen Curry’s name after hearing James’ claim. Admittedly though, it’s hard to argue against the Kyrie take. The eight-time All-Star has established himself as an elite ball-handler over the years.
Kyrie Irving’s new shoe deal
Kyrie Irving and Nike cut ties some time ago because of the former’s infamous online controversy. Subsequently, Irving became a sneaker free agent. Different brands approached him. However, for a long time, the guard had no endorsement deals.
But he recently joined Klay Thompson and Gordon Hayward as an ‘Anta’ athlete. His brand-new signature line has been released by the brand already. Read all the details of this deal here.
