Kyrie Irving Has Regrets About His Time With LeBron, Cavaliers

Long, long ago, back in 2016, Kyrie Irving and LeBron James paired up in Cleveland and brought the city its first professional sports championship since 1948.

And Irving now says that if he'd only had a better attitude, the Cavaliers would have continued that success.

“If I was in the same maturity line and understanding of who I am, and I look back, we definitely, definitely would’ve won more championships, because there would’ve been a better man-to-man understanding about what I’m going through. I didn’t know how to share my emotions,” Irving said on a recent episode of I Am Athlete. “I didn’t know how to do that. So instead of sharing, I isolated myself."

While Irving suggests that he "isolated" himself from all of his teammates at the time, he particularly regrets the way he distanced himself from LeBron James, whom Irving says he should've consulted before he requested a trade from the team in 2017.

“We didn’t talk during that time,” Irving admitted. “When I look back on what I was going through at that time, I wish I did, because it would’ve been a good understanding of what the future will hold for both of us and we know how much power we both had together. Me and him in the league together running Cleveland, and then being able to put a better team together every single year would’ve definitely been worth it.”

But that was then, and this is now. And Irving now has a new decision to make: whether to opt in on the final year of his contract with the Brooklyn Nets. He has faced many challenges since he joined the team in 2019. He was sidelined for much of his first year with an injury to his shoulder, and he couldn't participate in many games last season because he elected not to take the COVID vaccine. The Nets were swept into the offseason by the Heat in the first round of the playoffs.

But despite a disappointing 2021-22 season, Irving insists he's in a better head space now:

"I started digging deep into Islam. I went through that span where I was reclaiming my power. I found my tribe, I reclaimed my identity. I stopped listening to everybody else was saying about what an athlete is supposed to be, the image that we’re supposed to be every day, why we’re supposed to be doing the things we’re doing. I had to find that purpose.”

As do we all, Kyrie. As do we all.