Kyrie Irving Once Told Tyronn Lue Getting Other Cavs Teammates Shots Was LeBron James’ Job

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Kyrie Irving plays his second game against his former team on Wednesday night, and though his decision to force a trade from the Cleveland Cavaliers is well in the past, discussion about it is far from over.

The seismic shift in the NBA landscape brought with it a lot of questions, namely why Irving would want to leave LeBron James to play elsewhere. Irving has addressed the idea that he didn’t feel wanted in Cleveland, something that LeBron says is absurd.

It’s clear that there was some tension within the Cavaliers organization, though that seems to be expected given the hyper-competitive world of basketball and the stakes that come with each season ending in the NBA Finals. But one interesting story a Jackie MacMillan piece published on Wednesday for ESPN included a situation where Irving refused to change his game to benefit others.


Essentially, Irving often wondered if James saw Kyrie as an equal, and often deferred to him when it came to actually running the point.

During a rare practice in the middle of last season, coach Tyronn Lue, who was standing next to assistant coach and Irving confidant Phil Handy, called out to his young point guard.

“Ky,” Lue said, “I want you to play a little faster.”

“Why?” Irving asked.

“Because if we play faster, we get shots off easier.”

“I don’t need to play faster to get my shot off,” Irving replied. “I can do that anytime.”

“I’m not talking about your shot. I’m talking about RJ and JR,” Lue said, citing teammates Richard Jefferson and Smith.

“Well, that’s No. 23’s job,” Irving replied, referring to James.

That conversation ends with Lue walking away shaking his head, which I’m sure at the time thrilled Kyrie. But in hindsight he now regrets how that story went.

“At that time, we had probably lost a few [games],” Irving told MacMullan. “[Lue] is coming up to me and saying, ‘We’ve got to play faster,’ and I probably wasn’t willing to accept it at the time. So maybe I’d like a do-over on that.”

Whether that’s Irving learning from his mistakes or just trying to put a good face on an extremely petty story, it seems like he wishes things went differently. As for Lue? Well, he didn’t say much about Kyrie when he was asked for the piece.

“Kyrie is a great player,” Lue said. “Please tell him I wish him the best.”

Check out the latest DIME podcast with college basketball analyst Jay Bilas!

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