Kyrie Irving has the Dallas Mavericks one win away from advancing to the second round of the 2024 NBA Playoffs, but based on recent words from Irving himself, he might’ve been close to joining a different team.
In a recent conversation with Fox Sports, Irving made it sound as though he got very close with reuniting with LeBron James on the Los Angeles Lakers.
Unfortunately for the Purple and Gold, things didn’t work out.
“Everything was considered,” Irving told Fox Sports when asked if he seriously considered reuniting with James last season.
At the end of the day, however, it sounds like front office decisions were what kept the reunion from taking place.
“He’s a great friend of mine, a great brother of mine,” Irving said of James to Fox Sports. “We obviously played together [in Cleveland]. Everybody knows our history. But there were so many different factors in between. When it comes to business decisions, you have to ask the GMs, the presidents why certain things didn’t work out.”
NBA fans will remember James and Irving’s time together with the Cleveland Cavaliers. They were the unquestioned leaders of the Cavaliers squad that came back from a 1-3 deficit against the Golden State Warriors in the 2016 NBA Finals. Both players had signature moments in that historic series.
Since then, James has won one title with the Lakers. Irving is still in search of his second championship ring.
The way Irving and the Mavs are clicking right now, this year could certainly be the year. The Mavs dominated the Los Angeles Clippers in Game 5 of their series on Wednesday.
Irving dropped 14 points to go along with six assists and four boards in the game. Now, the series will return to Dallas for a Friday night showdown that could end with the Clippers getting bounced from the playoffs if they lose.
As for James and the Lakers, their playoff dream already ended after a 1-4 series finish against the defending champion Denver Nuggets.
Perhaps there is a part of James that is currently wondering what could have been had he and Irving reunited once again to try to win basketball’s ultimate prize.
Many Lakers fans are likely wondering the same thing.
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