Months ago, LeBron James bit his tongue when Carrie Irving’s comments on Kevin Durant’s podcast seemed to deny the game’s capabilities at the end of the Los Angeles Lakers star. Now, James has opened up about his ex-partner’s own podcast appearance.
Appearing as a guest on the Road Tripin podcast with James, Richard Jefferson, Channing Fry and Eli Clifton, he addressed Irvine’s comments – in which Irving praised Durant as his first-teammate as he confidently took the last shot himself. The game – in an episode aired Monday on Spectrum Sportsnet.
“I was a little, ‘Damon.’ Once I got the whole transcript, I became like ‘Daemon’, ’James said, adding that he made sure to read his full comments before Irving’s reaction.“ I wasn’t like ‘Oh, you tripin’. I’ve scored on a game-winning shot all my life. ‘I wasn’t like that. Because … I played with Carrie for three seasons [with the Cleveland Cavaliers]. The whole time I was there, I just wanted him to be the MVP of our league. I just cared about his success. And it just didn’t align. It just hasn’t aligned. And we managed to win the championship. That’s the craziest thing. We were still able to win the championship, and we never managed. But I just took care of his well-being, both on and off the floor.
“And it hurt me a little bit.”
Just days before James and the Lakers played the Miami Heat in Game 2 of the NBA Finals in October, comments from the Brooklyn Nets Guard were published on the first episode of Durant’s podcast, “The ATCS,” which deduced James’ clutch-time abilities. As Irving reflects on his basketball career.
“One thing I’ve always been comfortable with is that I felt like I was the best option on every team I played for the stretch,” Irving said on the podcast. “This is the first time in my career that I’ve looked down and like, ‘That mother — array can make that shot too.’ And that will probably make it a lot easier.
“It’s not so late, because in past situations where I didn’t take the last shot, I felt guilty. I want a shot to win this game, but, you want to trust your teammate. It’s not that I don’t trust my teammate. Player, but I thought I was the best option. “
Irving and James went into three straight finals together from 201 to 201 and won all of them in the 201 Fin. They became the first pair of teammates to score 0 points each in the final game as they held the Cavs to a 1-1 draw. Lack of defeating Golden State Warriors.
James said the timing of Irving’s comments was as disappointing as his content.
“It was F — add up time. It was F — add up time,” James said. “Because it was the final … in the middle of the final.”
However James said he has become accustomed to deviations like his teams nearing the championship – a racist nickname spray-painted on the gate of his LA home on the eve of the 2017 final – for example, Irving’s comments were inevitable.
“It’s always been something that when I get to the finals, he comes out to try to distract me from my mission. So I was already ready for it … I’m always ready to know that I’m coming here. “I have said or done something to try to get the cock out of my mission,” said James. Was like. I was like, ‘Are you kidding me?’ … I was like a ‘god corpse’. “
James reflected on his time with Irving in Cleveland, when he remembered that his son Bryce was “super juicy” for his father to play for the Caves, as Irving was very influential in the video games Bryce played.
James also stunned Irving, who was only 22 when he joined the Caves.
“Q is one of the most talented players I’ve ever played with in my life. Baby – I don’t even call him a ‘baby’. He’s not a baby anymore, but then he was. He was a little kid who still grew up on his own. Was, and he was — able on that floor I had never seen before. “I had so much faith in him. I actually told Kiri, I told her at one point when we were playing together that if you weren’t a league MVP one day, you would be selling yourself short. Because that’s how much I trust him. .
“And that was part of the reason I came back home. In addition to the unfinished business, I came back home because I saw talent in him.”
James said he tried to save Irving from investigation when they played together.
James said, “At any time the media would ask questions about Carrie – and we often have media when Carrie — wanted to ask – I was the buffer.” Said James. “I was like, ‘No, listen, you’re guys traveling. This kid is small, he’s great, he’s going to learn, I’ve come to help him learn, and I know what he’s going to be.’
“And sometimes, you know, you put yourself out there, and when you’re not ready for it, you get hit in the head.”
Irving got no votes for MVP, let alone win the award, as he was traded to the Boston Celtics in 2017. Interrupted by injuries, he has played in nine postseason games in the last three campaigns – spent with Boston and Brooklyn. – After participating in 52 playoff games in his three seasons with James.
After Irving’s comments about James went live, the high-scoring guard posted a series of Twitter videos referring to “false statements” when it was realized he was shooting at James.
“Why should a brother always be in front of a brother … why?” Irving said in early October. “If I address someone, I’ll say their name. Come on, all. Don’t listen to false descriptions. Let people live their lives! It’s just a game.
“You talk openly. You talk freely. But we live in a clickbat society, so it’s something big. You don’t have to defend it. It’s the media. … It’s entertainment. I’m not going. Let me put it against someone anytime now. Because it’s not about that … I don’t need to put it against anyone else! It’s never like that. It’s about love. Peace. “
James, who signed a lifetime contract with Nike in 2015, shared one more story about Irving on the podcast, claiming he had a hand in developing the signature sneaker line for his former teammate at the Sports Apparel Company.
“The kid gets signature shoes from Nike, which we know there’s a small one [group]. I mean, of all the players who play in our league, of all the players who stay with Nike, there aren’t many signatories, “James said.” And I was, ‘He’s the right person. Because it’s not just his ability, it’s what he does on the floor. Not just with its size. And its handle. Her handle – the kids love it. It will have the following. He is the right person. ‘So I was like, I said to my boys on Nike,‘ Yeah, if you guys think the same, stop thinking f — ing. He is the right person. Nothing to think about. ”
The Lakers are set to host the Nets in the first matchup of the season on February 18 at the Staples Center.
.
