While it certainly makes for a juicy story, it’s becoming more and more clear that Kyrie Irving doesn’t have any bad blood toward LeBron James.
The Irving-James feud narrative burned strong when the star point guard asked to be traded from the Cleveland Cavaliers and ultimately was dealt to the Boston Celtics. Although many believed Irving’s demand was in spite of James, one of his former teammates put this rumor to rest during a Wednesday appearance on FOX Sports 1’s “Undisputed.”
“Kyrie, it wasn’t about ‘Bron,” Richard Jefferson said. “Kyrie was about Kyrie achieving the most as he could as an individual player. He feels that, ‘Hey, I enjoyed the role of being a (Scottie) Pippen, but now it’s time for me to go be a (Michael) Jordan and lead a team. You saw how great Boston was all year and how dominant they were when he was healthy. You can see he can be that guy, and he was that guy all regular season. It was just a matter of him doing it in the playoffs, which the injury didn’t allow him.”
There’s a chance Irving never will get the chance to prove himself in playoffs against a James-led Cavaliers team. With free agency awaiting this offseason, there’s a chance James could be with a new team for the 2018-19 campaign.
