From 2014 to 2017, LeBron James and Kyrie Irving were teammates on the Cleveland Cavaliers. They won the 2016 NBA Finals in a 3-1 series comeback against the Golden State Warriors, highlighted by James’ chase down block and Irving’s late three-pointer in Game 7.
But after that historic series, James and Irving played only one more year together, with the point guard requesting a trade and being sent to the Boston Celtics. While the two have since repaired their relationship, Irving gave context on what it was like to play alongside James and the struggles that come with it.
“When you’re playing with someone like [LeBron James], or somebody you like to compare him to, it’s a different animal,” Irving said during a recent Twitch stream. “It’s a different journey, you’re automatically expected to be at the top of the league. Every time you play with [James] it’s going to be a lot of media attention, a lot of narratives.”
Since his departure from Cleveland, Irving has yet to win another NBA title. After leaving the Celtics in 2019, he joined the Brooklyn Nets in what ended up being a failed experiment. Irving was then traded to the Dallas Mavericks, where he, along with Luka Doncic, made the 2024 NBA Finals, but lost to his former Boston team.
Irving’s Thoughts On Playing With LeBron James
While Irving has always been somewhat introspective and open to discussing his past, the 33-year-old’s comments on playing with James came unprompted.
“And for me, I was just a young person trying to figure it out,” Irving added. “It’s not that I disliked playing with [LeBron] at any time, it was just literally my time to move on, and that’s what people gotta accept.”
Irving’s request and subsequent trade in 2017 shocked the NBA world, but James himself never expressed any outward animosity towards the move. After the trade happened, he wrote on X (then Twitter), “That’s the only way to be to the kid! Special talent/guy! Nothing but respect and what a ride it was our 3 years together.”
Irving also commented on being drafted by the Cavaliers and the ‘bad habits’ he formed. Though he eventually teamed up with James and Kevin Love, winning the franchise’s first title, he didn’t hold back in his comments about the team.
“I would’ve loved to choose the franchise I wanted to go to,” Irving said. “Being a young player, when you’re on a team that’s not winning a lot of games, it’s a lot of bad habits that form, and that’s what ended up happening to me when I was very young. I had a lot of bad habits. I was not a winner, I was not a good loser at all.”
A Reunion On The Mavericks?
After eight years apart, James and Irving are seemingly over what at the time was a decisive split of one of the best duos in the NBA. But now, with James on the Los Angeles Lakers and Irving on the Mavericks, the two could be closer to a reunion in the final stages of their careers.
Over the 2025 NBA Summer League, John Hollinger of The Athletic wrote that James reportedly had interest in heading to Dallas before he picked up his player option with the Lakers for next season.
“In particular, the whispers about him having eyes for Dallas,” Hollinger wrote. “A place where he could have teamed up with former teammates Anthony Davis and Kyrie Irving and young phenom Cooper Flagg — before opting into his deal were hard to ignore.”
James still could join the Mavericks, as he will be a free agent at the end of next year, in what would be his 24th NBA season.
Irving did tear his ACL in March of this past year and expects to be out for the entire 2025-26 season. But a return in 2026-27 could put him alongside James in Dallas, with Anthony Davis, Cooper Flagg, and Klay Thompson.
It would be strange, James with his two former championship teammates in Irving and Davis. The only thing that would be weirder is Dwyane Wade coming out of retirement to sign with the Mavericks.
But for now, James is on the Lakers with Doncic. As the Slovenian is seemingly the new priority for Los Angeles, James and his representation have sent signs that this might be his last year playing in the purple and gold.
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