Fans were shocked when Kyrie Irving asked to be traded from the Cleveland Cavaliers while playing with LeBron James in 2017.
Speaking to I Am Athlete, he explained his reason:
“We got to be cool as brothers whether we’re playing together or whether we’re not playing together. We have to protect one another because it will seep into family life where people will really think that we don’t like each other based on us not being able to play together anymore, you know what I mean? ‘So you asked for a trade so you must hate that dude.’ That’s not true! So I had to defend myself, he had to defend himself, and it’s like, I’m trying to put that to bed so I can continue to build my own legacy,” he said.
Kyrie said the request had nothing to do with him not wanting to share the spotlight with LeBron and everything to do with the team’s future plans.
“I’m continuously reminded over and over again, ‘Yo, you left ‘Bron. How could you do that?'” he said. “You got his fanbase, you got my fanbase, and you got team fanbases going at it, ‘Yo why couldn’t this work?’ And I say this; I asked for a trade because I was looking for something different. I was a man of my word when I went to the organization, I sat the higher ups down and said, ‘Look, I know y’all have future plans, tell me right now.’ They told me their future plans, I said, ‘Look, this isn’t for me.'”
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