{"id":7439,"date":"2020-12-09T01:50:10","date_gmt":"2020-12-09T02:50:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=7439"},"modified":"2020-12-09T04:22:22","modified_gmt":"2020-12-09T04:22:22","slug":"lebron-hurt-by-kyries-startling-disrespect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=7439","title":{"rendered":"LeBron 'hurt' by Kyrie's startling disrespect"},"content":{"rendered":"

LeBron James<\/a> has finally struck back at what he calls "hurtful" comments from former NBA teammate Kyrie Irving.<\/p>\n

During October, Irving claimed that fellow Brooklyn Net Kevin Durant was the first teammate who he'd trust as much as himself to take big shots late in a game.<\/p>\n

It was taken as a slight against James, with whom he won an NBA championship on the 2016 Cleveland Cavaliers team. James took it that way.<\/p>\n

"Once I got the whole transcript, I was like, 'Damn,'" James said on the Road Trippin' podcast.<\/p>\n

"I wasn't like, 'Oh, you trippin'. I've hit game-winning shots my whole life.' I was not like that. I was like, 'Damn.' Because \u2026 I played with Kyrie for three seasons.<\/p>\n

"The whole time when I was there, I only wanted to see him be an MVP of our league. I only cared about his success. And it just didn't align. It just didn't align.<\/p>\n

"And we were able to win a championship. That's the craziest thing. We were still able to win a championship, and we could never align.<\/p>\n

"But I only cared about his well-being, both on and off the floor. And it kind of hurt me a little bit."<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Irving forced a trade to Boston in 2017, wanting to break free of James, though his time as the Celtics' leading man was tumultuous. He and Durant joined forces in Brooklyn in 2019, though KD is yet to suit up for the Nets due to an achilles injury..<\/p>\n

"This is the first time in my career I've looked down and be like, 'That motherf—er can make that shot, too.' And he'll probably do it a lot easier," Irving said of Durant, in the comments that irked James.<\/p>\n

"It's not so much deferring, because in past situations where I didn't take the last shot, I felt guilty.<\/p>\n

"I want this game-winning shot but also, you want to trust your teammates. Not that I didn't trust my teammates but I felt like I was the best option."<\/p>\n

Irving later claimed he wasn't targeting James, saying, "If I'm addressing anyone, I'll say their name".<\/p>\n

Yet James did not take the comments well, especially given the timing. He was midway through his campaign for a fourth NBA championship ring, which he ultimately won with the Lakers.<\/p>\n

"It was a f—ed up time. Because it was the Finals \u2026 the middle of the Finals," James said.<\/p>\n

"When I was seeing that and I read it, and then I got the full transcript and I heard it, I was like, 'Man, f—.' I was like, 'Are you f—ing kidding me' \u2026 I was like, 'God damn'."<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

James landed a verbal jab of his own, saying that he had believed Irving to be an MVP-calibre player; which had not yet proven to be the case.<\/p>\n

"Ky is one of the most talented players I've ever played with in my life," James said.<\/p>\n

"He's not a kid anymore, but back then, he was. He was a young kid still growing into his own, and the s–t that he was capable of on the floor, I had never seen before.<\/p>\n

"I had so much confidence in him. I actually told Kyrie, I told him at one point when we were playing together that if you were not a league MVP someday, then you were selling yourself short.<\/p>\n

"Because that's how much I believed in him. And it was part of the reason why I came back home [to Cleveland]. Besides the unfinished business, I came back home because I saw the talent in him."<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LeBron James has finally struck back at what he calls "hurtful" comments from former NBA teammate Kyrie Irving. During October, Irving claimed that fellow Brooklyn […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7439"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7439"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7439\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7441,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7439\/revisions\/7441"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7439"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7439"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7439"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}