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Sources: Kyrie Irving Threatened to Sit Out 2017 Season if Cleveland Didn’t Trade Him

Updated 1 year ago on October 15, 2021

1 min read

Basketball Insiders

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[Kyrie] Irving’s desire and request to leave the Cavs last summer are well documented. Wanting to leave LeBron James’ shadow and the culture James dominated in Cleveland, upset that former general manager David Griffin was gone and miffed that the Cavs considered trading him to Indiana for Paul George, Irving asked owner Dan Gilbert to trade him.

Gilbert didn’t have to honor the request, though, as Irving had two years left on his contract. But according to multiple sources, Irving threatened to sit out the season and have surgery on his knee, convincing Gilbert and Cleveland’s front office that the relationship was not salvageable.

Irving’s agent, Jeff Wechsler, declined to discuss what was said to the Cavs with cleveland.com, and Gilbert did not personally respond to a request seeking comment.

The Cavs do not regret trading Irving (because he didn’t want to be here) nor do they regret trading him to Boston, and are otherwise refusing to address the past as they try to maximize this season and the future, they said.

Source: Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com

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