LeBron James and Kyrie Irving (Image Credit: Imagn)
Kyrie Irving began his professional basketball career after being chosen as the first overall pick in the 2011 NBA Draft by the Cleveland Cavaliers. Like many rookies, his introduction to the league came with many challenges. However, despite Cleveland’s support, Irving always felt a sense of limitation about not having the freedom to choose his own path early on.

During a recent livestream, Kyrie candidly opened up about his feelings regarding his start in Cleveland and why he ultimately decided it was time to leave.

“To have started my career with, I love Cleveland, don’t get me wrong. I’m appreciative of all the things that they’ve done for me. But at the same time, I would have loved to choose the franchise I wanted to go to. You know what I’m saying? I would have loved to develop next to some of my favorite players and some of my favorite people,” Kyrie said.

Irving went on to reflect on the struggles of being a young player on a team that was not consistently winning.

“You know, because being a young player, when you’re on a team that’s not winning a lot of games, there’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 loser. you know, at all. Like I take my accountability. I had a lot of bad habits as a young player and that came from losing games and just trying to get buckets all the time,” he added.

Kyrie Irving Opens Up About The Challenge Of Being LeBron James’ Teammate

LeBron James and Kyrie Irving (Image Credit: Imagn)

LeBron James returned to Cleveland in 2014 for a second stint. In his livestream, Kyrie revealed the complex and often unseen difficulties that came with being James’ teammate during that time.

“Every time you play with Bron, it’s going to be a lot of media attention. It’s going to be a lot of back and forth narratives. It’s going to be about a lot of spun narratives. It’s going to be a lot of politics. It’s going to be a lot of shit that a lot of people don’t see in front of the camera. And for me, I was just a young person trying to figure it out,” Irving said.

Despite the challenges, the partnership between James and Irving was fruitful on the court. Together, they led the Cavaliers to three consecutive NBA Finals appearances from 2015 to 2017. The pinnacle of their collaboration came in 2016, when the duo helped Cleveland win its first-ever NBA championship.