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Throwback: When Kevin Durant Expected Kyrie Irving to Leave Cleveland in 2017
Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving played together for Nets but Durant revealed his thoughts a few years ago about when he thought Irving would leave Cleveland.
After losing in the 2017 Finals, Kyrie Irving, who had spent six years committing to the Cleveland Cavaliers, submitted a trade request. The Cavs were prepared to run it back and contend for another championship, which is why it attracted criticism.
After being traded, he became the obvious star for the Boston Celtics. Given the circumstances surrounding his relationship with LeBron James, Kevin Durant felt he knew that would happen even though most people did not anticipate it.
“When you’re around LeBron James, there’s so much that comes with that. Outside distractions and conversations and just noise that just comes around just from being around LeBron James,” Durant said to The Ringer in 2017.
“Kyrie was at the point, like, ‘All right, we lost the championship; this whole season’s gonna be about if LeBron’s gonna leave or not. I’m ready for a new challenge.’ It just felt like he wanted a situation where he would just be free from all of that and just play.”
Following his trade from the Cavaliers, Irving rose to prominence on the Celtics as Isaiah Thomas, a previous MVP contender, went to Cleveland. Irving had a great run in Boston because, without LeBron, he could now lead a competitive team.
Boston was coming off a 2016–17 season record of 53–29. The team was solid, but Isaiah's prominence as the MVP frontrunner made them an excellent team. But the front office of the Celtics thought it would have been better to trade him for Kyrie.
Considering that it never fully recovered and went back to being a superstar, it was a wise trade. Conversely, Kyrie led the team in scoring and assists in his successful rookie campaign with the Celtics, averaging 24.4 points and 5.1 boards. Eight players on the team scored in double digits, making it one of the deepest teams in the league.
In addition, Irving served as a great mentor to the other players on the team, particularly to the young, talented players Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum. Kyrie discovered his calling and became the team's mainstay, as KD mentioned. But in 2019, he became so interested in another project that he left. It was with Durant, as we all know.
ALSO READ: Kevin Durant's Role for Team USA in Paris Olympics Revealed by Steve Kerr; DETAILS Inside
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