LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers lost out on the Kyrie Irving sweepstakes after the All-Star point guard was dealt to the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday.
Los Angeles had been linked to James’ former teammate with the Cleveland Cavaliers ever since Irving requested a trade on Friday. In fact, he was reportedly pushing for a deal behind the scenes.
A lack of assets and the Brooklyn Nets’ unwillingness to take on Russell Westbrook doomed a potential blockbuster between the two teams.
Hours after the trade was first reported, King James took to his Twitter account with a cryptic post. While it’s difficult to suggest that tweet isn’t Irving-related, we’re having a hard time reading between the lines. Check it out.
James does have a way of making everything about him. That probably comes with having an ego the size of interstellar space and being a larger-than-life figure. Even then, trying to decode this tweet will drive even the most-capable internet sleuths crazy.
Related: LeBron James scoring chase tracker
What’s LeBron James talking about now?
Perhaps, LeBron James is talking about his relationship with Irving and the falling out they had following the 2016-17 season with the Cleveland Cavaliers. Remember, Irving requested a trade from Cleveland after they lost to the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Finals.
A lot of Irving’s unhappiness had to do with James being the face of the Cavaliers’ franchise and the toast of Cleveland. He was not so subtle in taking shots at LeBron immediately after being traded to the Boston Celtics.
It wasn’t too long after that when everything seemed to be mended between the two sides. In fact, both Irving and James have been open to a reunion in recent years.
That might have changed back in November after Irving was suspended by the Nets for sharing a documentary on social media that included many antisemitic posts. James initially called out Irving in a big way.
“Me, personally, I don’t condone any hate to any race, to Jewish communities, to Black communities, to Asian communities. You guys know where I stand. I believe what Kyrie did, did cause some harm to a lot of people. He has since, over the last — today, or was it yesterday — he apologized. But he caused some harm, and I think it’s unfortunate.
LeBron James on Kyrie Irving
James then backtracked to an extent a few days later, throwing his support behind Irving.
This could also be more about the Lakers’ unwillingness to offer up concrete assets outside of Westbrook for James’ former teammate. Los Angeles had in the past pushed back yielding both of its available first-round picks (2026 and 2028) without conditions attached.
What we do know is that LeBron James is clearly frustrated. Dating back a calendar year, his Lakers are 32-50. They currently boast the third-worst record in the Western Conference and wouldn’t even be taking part in the play-in tournament if the season ended today.
With Irving now off the market, it seems to be far-fetched to believe that Los Angeles will be able to pull off a move ahead of Thursday’s NBA trade deadline that would be a needle-mover.