Former NBA guard Iman Shumpert played an important role in the Cavaliers securing their only championship in franchise history. He was there to help them win it all, and he was there to watch it fall apart when Kyrie Irving forced a trade to the Celtics in 2017. In a recent appearance on ‘Club Shay Shay,’ the former Cavs guard broke down what really pushed Irving out of Cleveland, and why he wasn’t surprised that he wanted to leave.
“Hell nah. Kyrie is a Kobe guy,” said Shumpert. “Kyrie wanted to beat LeBron, and that’s okay. People like to say ‘Oh, that was dumb’ because you’re a team-up kind of guy. That’s not Kyrie. Kyrie is like ‘The only way I can be crowned the best is if I beat the best. I got to go head-to-head with you; I can’t team up with you.”
It’s easy to forget now, but Irving was once the star of the show in Cleveland. In the years before LeBron’s arrival, he was the only hope for the Cavaliers and was treated like an MVP because of it. When LeBron arrived, all that changed, and it was something that Irving never fully accepted.
“Let’s say you got your momma’s crib. And then they just bring you a new brother,” Shumpert added. “Then your momma’s like ‘Well, you were the one to get the house key and do whatever you want, but now you don’t get to drive the car.’ For people not to understand that’s what happened, and then be like ‘Oh, he should have put his pride to the side.’ Why?”
Irving didn’t leave the Cavaliers because he hated LeBron. He left because he wanted to do his own thing and build his legacy outside No. 23’s shadow. As a longtime Kobe fan, he’s competitive at heart and would rather go against his competitors than join forces with them.
So while Irving made the most of his stint with James (one championship in three Finals appearances with the Cavs), he was never in it for the long haul. Playing alongside LeBron was something he never signed up for, even though he remains on good terms with the basketball legend today.
Shumpert Gets Real On Playing With LeBron
Irving ended his partnership with James early, and it’s something critics still talk about today. When people often forget, however, is that it’s not so easy to play with the King. Besides his enormous presence, he holds everyone accountable with his sky-high basketball IQ. In the end, however, it’s all for the best as he makes everyone better on the court.
“He is Chat GPT of the NBA,” said Shumpert on James. “This is the best way I could describe [him]. You can ask him anything, he knows. He knows the coaches, he knows the assistant coaches, he knows the player development coach. I don’t even have the mental capacity for all that sh*t. It took about a month for me to get used to him saying ‘X1, X2, X3, X4,’ he is really programmed for this. I never dealt with somebody who had the balls enough to look a coach in the eye and say, ‘I’m not running that.'”
James doesn’t just dominate with his physical skill and size. He uses his mind to get ahead of opponents and exploit their biggest flaws. With an unmatched mental game, James frequently outsmarts the enemy, and it’s the secret to his unprecedented NBA longevity.
In the end, Kyrie got to experience the best of both worlds. He played and won with LeBron James in the city where he was drafted. It taught him a lot and put his name in the history books. But Kyrie wanted more, and going out on his own was the best way to ensure he could play out his career on his own terms.
