Getty LeBron James #6 of the Los Angeles Lakers handles the ball as Kyrie Irving #2 of the Dallas Mavericks defends.
Dallas Mavericks star Kyrie Irving was appreciative but also ribbed his former teammate, Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James, for his viral compliment that kickstarted the conversation on the NBA Finals Media Day.
“Shout-out to LeBron for that. [He] Knows how to stir up a media storm, get everybody in here talking about us,” Irving said on June 5 during the pre-NBA Finals presser.
Irving was amused that the first question was neither about his current team nor his former team Boston Celtics, their opponents in the NBA Finals that begins on Thursday, June 6, in Boston.
“Is that the first question?” Irving replied when Joe Vardon of The Athletic asked if he saw James’ podcast comments complimenting him and missing playing with him. “Oh, God, I love it! Got to love this, man!”
James’ comments, however, came within the NBA Finals preview in his “Mind the Game” podcast with ESPN analyst and Lakers’ top coaching candidate JJ Redick.
“I will call Kyrie the wizard all the time,” James said when Redick asked him about Irving. “There was nothing on the basketball floor that Kyrie couldn’t do. I’m playing like so happy and so proud and to watch him and continue his growth and whatever the case and at the same time I’m so [expletive] mad at the same time that I am not his running mate anymore.”
LeBron James & Kyrie Irving’s Nixed Reunion
James and Irving wanted to team up anew at Los Angeles but it was nixed when the Brooklyn Nets rejected the Lakers’ offer centered on Russell Westbrook and two future first-round picks in 2027 and 2029 last season, according to ESPN’s Dave McMenamin.
The Nets, instead, shipped Irving to Dallas for Spencer Dinwiddie, Dorian Finney-Smith, a 2029 first-round pick and second-round picks in 2027 and 2029.
Irving pinned the blame on the aborted reunion on their respective team’s decision-makers.
“Everything was considered,” Irving told Mellisa Rohlin of Fox Sports on May 3. “He’s a great friend of mine, a great brother of mine. We obviously played together [in Cleveland]. Everybody knows our history. But there were so many different factors in between. When it comes to business decisions, you have to ask the GMs, the presidents why certain things didn’t work out.”
James was vocal that he missed Irving. The feeling is mutual.
“Definitely miss him,” Irving said of the Lakers forward during the pre-NBA Finals presser on June 5. “Playing out there, just making things easier, being able to run up and down the floor, just throw the ball to somebody like that, throw it in the air, as athletic as they come.
Yeah, just a mutual respect there for what we brought to the table. His leadership, my leadership style, I think it meshed very well. I was learning a lot from him that I’m appreciative for the rest of my life.”
Mavs Star Waxed Nostalgic
Irving appreciated James’ compliment.
“I mean, I have a great reaction,” Irving told reporters on June 5. “It’s appreciated. There’s a lot of gratitude there, as well.”
The Mavericks star also waxed nostalgic as he reminisced about his partnership with James in Cleveland that ended the city’s NBA championship drought with the first 3-1 comeback in the NBA Finals history in 2016.
“Man, when he says comments like that, I think back to us having those moments where we’re down in a series, up in a series, we’re really demanding greatness from each other,” Irving said. “Off the court, our families meshing well.
I definitely think about those times. Now we’re here in the present where we’re able to reflect but also now I’m at this stage, able to use some of the formulas that I was taught from him, some of the great teachers that have come before me. I feel like I’ve been built for this moment because I’ve gone through some of the things I’ve gone through in my past with some of the guys that have transcended the game.”
Now 32, Irving has a far different perspective than what he had when he demanded a trade out of Cleveland to step out of James’ shadow.
“Obviously, I’m in a different age, a different place in my life,” Irving said. “So is he. I think we both have been able to mature and really appreciate what we got a chance to accomplish.
“I think there were some things that got in the way of our relationship when I was a little bit younger. Now that I’m able to vocalize how I feel as a man, be comfortable in it, stand on my square, my beliefs, where I’m coming from, I feel like our relationship’s different because of that now.”