When LeBron James and Kyrie Irving teamed up on the Cleveland Cavaliers, it felt like the perfect basketball storm. The King and The Little Mountain made it to three straight Finals together. They will forever have the 2016 title comeback from 3–1 down against the Golden State Warriors, a ring that cemented their place in history.
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But as dominant as they were, the ending got weird fast. Kyrie reportedly grew tired of playing in LeBron’s shadow and shocked the league by requesting a trade in 2017. The Cavs eventually sent him to the Boston Celtics, and just like that, one of the most electric duos ever was done. Looking back, it’s wild how something so great on the court unraveled so awkwardly off it.
That said, it really wasn’t that hard to figure out. Kyrie wanted to win, and he wanted to beat LeBron to do it. That’s what Iman Shumpert revealed during a recent interview with Shannon Sharpe. The retired star famously played on that 2016 Cavs team with Irving and Bron, so he had a front row seat for the drama that unfolded.
Sharpe asked Iman if he was surprised to see Kyrie leave. “Hell nah,” he responded. “If you know Kyrie, Kyrie is a Kobe guy. Kyrie wanted to beat Bron, and that’s okay. People be like, ‘Man that was dumb. I would have-‘ Yeah you would have. You would have teamed up. That’s who you are. That’s not Kyrie. Kyrie is like, ‘The only way I can be crowned the best is to beat the best.'”
Shumpert then broke down what it was like for Kyrie when they brought James back to Cleveland. “You at your momma crib. And then they just bring you a new brother, and your mama like, ‘Well you is the one that get to have the house key and do whatever you want. You get to drive the car. You got a new brother now.'”
Iman Shumpert asked if he was surprised Kyrie wanted to leave LeBron in Cleveland:
“Hell nah. Kyrie is a Kobe guy, Kyrie wanted to beat LeBron”
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No amount of success in the world will ever be good enough for a competitor. They’re always chasing the next accolade, the next highlight. So it tracks why Kyrie, one of the fiercest competitors in the game, would want to push for bigger things than just being The King’s No. 2. He wanted to write his own history.
“For people not to understand that’s what happened, and then be like, ‘Oh he should have put his pride to the side?’ Why? What’s wrong with that? Bron is great, Kyrie wanted to beat him. Kyrie wanted you alll have to say, ‘I beat Bron on the biggest stage ever,'” added Shumpert.
At the end of the day, that mindset says more about Kyrie than any hot take ever could. Irving wasn’t chasing comfort, he was chasing legacy, even if it meant walking away from a sure thing next to LeBron on the Cavaliers.
History shows it’s incredibly hard to win as the unquestioned No. 1, and his post-Cleveland journey has been complicated, but that doesn’t make the ambition crazy. He got close with Luka in 2024 to becoming a two-time champion.
If anything, it’s a reminder that greatness isn’t always about stacking rings. Sometimes it’s about betting on yourself, even when the odds (and the optics) aren’t in your favor.
