Kyrie Irving prepares for potential reunion, calls LeBron NBA’s MVP
By Dave Daniels
Has Kyrie Irving had a change of heart about LeBron James?
Kyrie Irving might be the only player in the history of the NBA to demand a trade away from a team with LeBron James, but he also believes the Earth is flat, so he’s obviously a unique guy.
But is Irving prepping the waters for a potential reunion with the “The Chosen One”? You be the one to decide after his latest comments concerning whether James Harden or LeBron James deserved to win MVP.
“MVP, it’s hard to gauge nowadays. Because now you have the people’s MVP and you have, like, the NBA’s MVP,” Irving told radio station Hot 97. “I think the people’s MVP was definitely James [Harden], but the NBA MVP is definitely LeBron [James].”
The point guard went on to say that his former teammate was “incredible” and checked off every mark statistically this year.
It’s hard to argue with Irving.
LeBron played all 82 games this season for the first time in his career while averaging 27.5 points, 9.1 assists and 8.6 rebounds per game, and then he carried the Cleveland Cavaliers to the NBA Finals for the fourth straight season with a roster that shouldn’t have even gotten out of the first round.
Harden, on the other hand, led the league in scoring and took the Houston Rockets to the top seed in the Western Conference.
He ended up failing to close the deal in the playoffs against the Golden State Warriors once Chris Paul went down, but it must be said that the MVP is a regular-season award.
But let’s be real for a second about Kyrie and LeBron. Irving doesn’t want to see James come to the Boston Celtics, but if you’re Danny Ainge and you get a sign-and-trade offer that allows them to keep Irving, Jayson Tatum, and Gordon Hayward, then you do that deal in a heartbeat.
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Irving might just be preparing for the scenario in which that happens, but most likely he’s just paying respect to another superstar who had a remarkable year.