LeBron James has already said he won’t tell the Cleveland Cavaliers what to do with Kyrie Irving’s request for a trade. But one NBA reporter has a source that says the only reason we all know about this is because James himself leaked it to the press.
Stephen A. Smith said on ESPN Sunday that, according to a source, James is the person responsible for Friday’s reports that Kyrie Irving wants out of Cleveland.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQRcEhFo1EI
Smith’s report comes at about the 2:10 mark of the video. Asked about LeBron’s reaction to the news, Smith suggests that while he won’t point the Cavaliers toward a resolution to the situation, he may have been the one that created it in the first place by spreading word of Irving’s trade demands.
According to my sources, they believe LeBron James had everything to do with news getting out that Kyrie Irving wants to be traded, because Kyrie Irving and his representation and others met with the Cavaliers a couple weeks ago, and not a word got out until recently. They believe that LeBron James got word of it and was put off by it and leaked it. I’m not going to accuse LeBron of such a thing. I don’t know that to be true at all. But I know that’s what Kyrie Irving believes.
The problem here is that Smith doesn’t have to “accuse” James of anything here. Much like his alleged spreading of the Irving trade request news, all you have to do is put it out into the world for it to be a thing. It’s another wrinkle in what’s now a sprawling NBA story about what may be the sudden demise of the East’s best team. At the very least, it’s sure to mean an end to the James/Irving partnership in Cleveland, one way or another.
(Via NBC Sports)
