LeBron James Hurt By Comments Kyrie Irving Made On Kevin Durant’s Podcast

LeBron James is opening up about his feelings concerning the comments that Kyrie Irving made on Kevin Durant’s podcast, ETC. James said Irving’s comments hurt him. James made an appearance on the Road Trippin’ hosted by Richard Jefferson, Channing Frye, and Allie Clifton and shared his thoughts.

“I was a little like, ‘Damn.’ Once I got the whole transcript, I was like ‘Damn,” James said on the podcast. “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… I played with Kyrie for three seasons. The whole time while I was there, I only wanted to see him be a MVP of our league. I only cared about his success. And it just didn’t align. It just didn’t align. 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. But I only cared about his wellbeing, both on and off the court. And it kind of hurt me a little bit.”

James and Irving played on the Cleveland Cavaliers together, leading the team to a championship in 2016. Irving spoke on James’ capabilities and his basketball career.

“One thing I’ve always been comfortable with, I feel like I was the best option on every team I played for down the stretch,” Irving said. ” This is the first time in my career I’ve looked down and be like, “That motherfucker can make that shot too.’ And he’ll probably do it a lot easier.”

“It’s not so much deferring because, in past situations where I didn’t take the last shot, I felt guilty. 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.”

After the interview with Durant, Irving posted a series of videos on Twitter defending his comments.

“Why must it always be brother against brother…why?” Irving stated. “If I’m addressing anyone, I’ll say their name. Come on, y’all. Don’t listen to the false narratives. Let people live their lives! It’s just a game.”

James was disappointed by Irving’s comments.

“It was a fucked up time. It was a fucked up time,” James said. “Because it was the Finals… the middle of the finals.”

James heard the comments while he was preparing for the championship game. James says distractions always come around when finals are near. In 2017, he was targeted with racist spray painting on the gate of his L.A. home.

“It’s always been something that, when I’ve been in the Finals, that comes out to try to distract me from my mission. So I was already ready for it… I’ve always been prepared to know that there’s going to be something said or done to try to knock me off of my mission,” James said. “When I was seeing that, and I read it, and then I got the full transcript, and I heard it,” I was like, ‘Man, fuck.’ I was like, ‘Are you fucking kidding me?’… I was like,’ God damn.’

During the interview, James spoke about Irving in a doting way.

“Ky is one of the most talented players I’ve ever played with in my life. The kid — I don’t even want to call him ‘kid.’ He’s not a kid anymore, but back then, he was. He was a young kid still growing into his own, and the shit that he was capable of on the floor I had never seen before,” James said to the podcasters. “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. Because that’s how much I believed in him.”