When Kyrie Irving first began playing with Kevin Durant, he made a comment about how great it was to be playing with a guy who he trusts to make shots down the stretch of a game.
At the time, his words were highly controversial and sparked some outrage within the NBA community.
“I felt like I was the best option on every team I’ve played for down the stretch,” said Irving on Durant. “This is the first time in my career where I can be like ‘that motherf*cker can make that shot too.'”
Having played and won a title with LeBron James, many were shocked to hear Kyrie take such a shot at his former teammate. Apparently, even James was shaken up by the statement.
As Irving recently revealed on ‘The ETCs’ podcast, Bron thought has was attacking him with those words. But Uncle Drew made sure to set the record straight.
“Hey, shout-out to Bron,” Irving said . “He felt like I was slighting him, and I would never slight him in a way that would probably make him go and have to respond to things like that, you know what I mean? I respect the hell out of him. We’ve been through our own battles as teammates, as competitors together.”
Kyrie and LeBron weren’t teammates for very long. They were only linked up for three years before the star point guard demanded a trade from Cleveland.
In that spend, however, the duo achieved great success, making three straight Finals appearances and hoisting the Larry O’Brien trophy after a 3-1 Finals comeback in 2016.
Since their split, neither of the players has spoken much about the other and it’s clear to see why. While they both have tremendous respect for each other, James and Irving have moved on. The past is the past and there don’t seem to be any hard feelings about how it all ended.
Who knows, maybe one day they’ll even get the chance to play with each other again.
