Rumors of a brewing rift between Kyrie Irving and Lebron James took on greater life late Friday, July 21, when Stephen A. Smith reported on information he claims to have received from insiders who say Irving's camp believes Lebron James is responsible for leaking word of his trade request.
"According to my sources, they believe LeBron James had everything to do with news getting out that Kyrie Irving wants to be traded because Kyrie Irving and his representation and others met with the Cavaliers a couple weeks ago, and not a word got out until recently," Smith said during a SportsCenter appearance. "They believe that LeBron James got word of it and was put off by it and leaked it. I’m not going to accuse LeBron of such a thing. I don’t know that to be true at all. But I know that’s what Kyrie Irving believes."
The whirlwind of controversy surrounding Irving's alleged plans for the future began with ESPN's Brian Windhorst and NBA.com's David Aldridge both reporting the scoop hours prior to Smith's twist to the story. According to Windhorst and Aldridge, Irving met with Cavs owner Dan Gilbert to personally request that he be dealt to either New York, San Antonio, Miami or Minnesota. Since the surfacing of the report, Irving has come forward to neither confirm nor deny its validity, and his teammates have remained mum, although a posting or two from the likes of Kevin Love and James has whipped the media to speculate about hostilities playing out over social media.
Source: theshaderoom.com
