LeBron James returns to Cleveland during the night on Thursday with the Los Angeles Lakers at their old site of activity. In the run-up to the game, the King spoke about Kyrie Irving’s 2017 trade, after which the Cavs were doomed for James.
“Everyone knows that the Kyrie Trade has been the beginning of the end for everything. It’s no secret,” explained James Joe Vardon (The Athletic). In the summer of 2017 Irving had demanded a trade, which LeBron allegedly wanted to prevent, because Irving also had a contract for at least two years.
General Manager Koby Altman, who ultimately carried out the trade, did not blame James. LeBron believes much more that owner Dan Gilbert was pulling the strings in the background. “I knew Koby wasn’t the only one in the organization who made the decisions on the team.”
Allegedly James spoke to Altman a few minutes before the trade, indicating that the GM was not responsible for the Irving trade. Altman was General Manager of the Cavs for a short time after the contract with predecessor David Griffin was not renewed.
Now LeBron is returning to Cleveland and it will be interesting to see how the fans will react to their former franchise player. On his first return in 2010 there were still whistles to be heard.
“Hopefully it won’t be that way this time,” James said. “But it doesn’t matter if the reactions are negative, because the only thing that matters is what I give for the city. At the end of the day fans cheer on their team and I don’t play for it anymore. I have also grown personally since 2010. Meanwhile, I’m not interested in those things anymore.”