LeBron James hosted Kyrie Irving At Nike HS Hoops Camp

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Long before LeBron James and Kyrie Irving won a championship in 2016 with the Cleveland Cavaliers, Irving was James’ camper.

NBA legend, Rod Strickland, Kyrie Irving’s godfather says that the first time that he saw Irving play in an actual game was at LeBron James’ basketball camp, when Irving was in high school.

“My first eyes on Kyrie as a hooper, I saw him play in Springfield, Massachusetts,” Strickland told me on the Scoop B Radio Podcast.

“I saw him at the LeBron James camp. And once I saw him at the LeBron James camp, I mean he was ridiculous,” he said.

“I saw the right hand, the left hand, all the layups and how he maneuvered.”

Strickland had seen Irving dribble the ball from time to time in the backyard and used to tell Irving’s father, Drederick Irving: “He’s going to make you some money.”

But at LeBron James’ Nike camp, Strickland says that Irving put on an absolute show.“He made passes,” he said.

“But he was such a gifted scorer and ball-handler that he could put the ball in the hole. But I knew he was special right away. There are some things that everybody’s not doing, so when I see somebody play with both hands, the way he was playing with it in high school, that’s special. You don’t see that a lot.”