Nothing to see here. All is well with Northeast Ohio’s team. According to both LeBron James and Kyrie Irving, reports that the stars shared a heated locker room exchange after the Cleveland Cavaliers’ loss to the Portland Trail Blazers on Tuesday are inaccurate.
At early shootaround for their game against the Denver Nuggets, James and Irving casually refuted claims of any recent spat. Via Chris Haynes of Northeast Ohio Media Group:
“Those reports are untrue,” James said. “We have not had a verbal exchange, but I understand that negativity sells. No one wants to hear a good story. Those reports are not true. They’re very false.”
Irving, who was sitting 90 feet away from James, took a comedic approach to the topic of an alleged clash between himself and James.
“As you can see, we’re on opposite ends, so it means we hate each other,” Irving jokingly said. “It was just over Survivor’s Remorse and Family Guy. That’s what it was about. Obviously he’s going to feel strongly about Survivor’s Remorse. It’s his show, but I love Family Guy. So a heated exchange, words were said. No blows this time, but awesome for our team. It’s great.”
Whether Cleveland’s superstar tandem is merely fanning flames or telling the truth doesn’t really matter. The Cavs have underachieved thus far even accounting for the necessary grace period of comfort that accompanies all newly constructed teams. They’re just 1-3 after losing to Gordon Hayward and the Utah Jazz on Wednesday, and that lone win came in overtime against a Chicago Bulls team that played the second half with Derrick Rose.
Time to panic? Certainly not. And after encouraging the masses yesterday from overreacting to the Cavs’ early struggles, James took that optimism one step further a few hours before playing with Irving for a fifth time:
“We’re two dynamic players and it’s coming along well, I believe,” said James. “But it’s going to continue to get better and better. It’s just four games. It’s our first time playing together so each game is going to be a learning experience for both of us.”
It hasn’t exactly come along well on the court just yet, but that LeBron and Kyrie have successfully weathered their first media maelstrom is certainly encouraging. The two are close friends, and natural chemistry lends itself to better basketball chemistry over time. For the sake of Cleveland’s unyielding and uncomfortably bright spotlight, we hope it begins to show tonight against the Nuggets.
What do you think?
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