When Kyrie Irving stunned everyone in Cleveland and around the NBA by requesting a trade from the Cavaliers, the initial thought was to wait for LeBron James’ response. Since then, we’ve gotten no official comment from James, aside from some apparent subtweets and some explicit denials that he is furious with Irving or wants to punch him.
For more than a month, Irving’s trade request has been public knowledge, but neither James nor Irving had spoken to each other, and the Cavs were trying to figure out how to move forward. Cleveland has decided to push for young stars to kickstart a potential rebuild in a Kyrie trade, knowing veterans will have to come back as salary filler, but using Irving’s trade request as an insurance policy in case LeBron leaves next summer.
As for the Cavs’ top two stars, they have apparently finally had a face-to-face meeting, in Miami, where they could chat about their crazy summers and figure out exactly what was going on, per ESPN Cleveland’s Tony Rizzo (as transcribed by SLAM Online).
“From very reliable sources. Plural. Kyrie and LeBron were in the same room over the weekend in Florida…
“Apparently these guys were in the same room and here’s the deal. I don’t know if there’s a thawing out process. All I do know is LeBron didn’t punch Kyrie the way Stephen A thought he would. I can report that.
“As for what they talked about or discussed…it was very cool. They didn’t get into any heated discussions.”
Knowing the public personalities of both James and Irving, it should come as no surprise that they avoided any heated discussions or arguments. Off the court, both are fairly laid back individuals, so even if there are hurt feelings on either side, they are the types of guys to be able to have a calmer discussion about those and try to understand where the other is coming from.
As for what this means for the Cavs, without any details on what was discussed, it’s hard to speculate. Maybe the conversation was LeBron trying to figure out why Irving wanted out and trying to smooth things out so he might change his mind. Maybe they just wanted to tell their sides of what’s been going on and move on, without either trying to make the other think differently about the situation. Or, maybe, Kyrie just needed some dinner recommendations in Miami and he knew LeBron had the ins on the hot spots because he lived there for four years.
All of those things are plausible, so this could be a good thing or no thing for the Cavs long term, but it’s hard to imagine it’s bad. Having the two at least get in the same room and speak now is at least good in the short term for Cleveland, especially if they drag trade talks out into training camp and James and Irving have to coexist on the floor for a little longer.
