Kyrie Irving and LeBron James formed one of the most iconic duos of our generation during James’ return to the Cleveland Cavaliers. The two superstars, alongside Kevin Love, formed a formidable side and dominated the Eastern Conference for years.
During their time together LeBron and Kyrie went to the NBA Finals in each season they played together. Although Irving would leave the team after playing three seasons with James and Love, he did help the team win an NBA Championship in 2016.
The reason why Irving left was to get out of LeBron’s shadow and have his own team. His wish was fulfilled when he was traded to the Boston Celtics. Unfortunately, he didn’t stay long with the Celtics and later joined the Brooklyn Nets.
Irving is currently part of the Nets and has two great players by his side in Kevin Durant and Ben Simmons. But the fact remains that Irving hasn’t been that successful since leaving LeBron James.
Don’t believe us? Well, you can take a look at Irving’s stats with and without James. It is certainly an eye-opener.
Kyrie Irving's record with/without LeBron James:
WITH WITHOUT
Regular season 132-51 204-224
Playoffs 39-13 11-11 pic.twitter.com/rhBCiQvPK4
— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) June 28, 2022
In both the regular season and the playoffs, Kyrie has been nowhere near as successful as he was when he played with LeBron. That’s not all. Another surprising fact is that Kyrie has missed considerably more games without James than he did when playing for the Cavs.
Fans feel that it has been a long time since they witnessed full-time Kyrie and they aren’t wrong by any means.
So when rumors emerged about Irving potentially reuniting with James to play for the Lakers, fans were extremely happy. But as it turns out, he decided to opt into his player option and will give it another try at winning a championship with the Brooklyn Nets.
