BOSTON Celtics guard Kyrie Irving explained why he needed to call Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James earlier this 2018-2019 season.
Irving supposedly called James some time before the season started to deal with the incident involving his trade. He revealed at an interview in ESPN that he made the call for him “to move forward.”
“Now, mind you, I have no regrets in terms of any decision I made, going about my individual journey and what I want and foresee in my career. But for me, it’s just...apologizing, yeah, that was a step for me, just to move forward in my life”, he stated in the interview.
Irving and James were once teammates in Cleveland Cavaliers where they brought a championship to the city after its 52-year drought from winning a title in sports. However, the following season after their championship run, they were swept by the stacked Golden State Warriors who just got forward Kevin Durant from free agency.
In 2017-2018 season, Irving requested a trade which led him to be in Boston and left James with the Cavaliers. This departure was sudden and took James in a surprise. With that, a lot of rumors and twists were circulating that Irving wanted to be the star player for team and not to be in the shadow of James’ greatness. Following this season, James left the Cavs to be with the Lakers in his hopes of winning another championship.
There was also a rumor that Irving called James again during the All-Star break yet he declined to discuss the details.
Even though the two superstars had a history of bad experiences and miscommunications, both of them are still in good terms with each other.
At present, both players are doing their best to keep their teams in track to make the playoffs. With the Lakers just having a record of 28-29 before All-Star break, James said that he will be stepping on the gas to make the team win more games and to make the playoffs.
According to James, this is nothing new to him of being against the odds. Moreover, he likes these types of situations that make him uncomfortable that lets him elevate his game.
“I’m all about being uncomfortable. I love being uncomfortable. I fall in love with being uncomfortable. This is another uncomfortable thing for me, and I love it”, he said in an interview during their practice.
Meanwhile, Irving is preparing to don the mantle of being the driving force of the Celtics again as they face the more aggressive Eastern Conference with the Raptors, Bucks, and Pacers above them. (Jayvee Gulfan, USC intern)