Surprised that Kyrie Irving left LeBron James and the Cavaliers after the 2016-17 season?
Be more surprised that it didn't happen sooner.
According to a Cavaliers podcast with three Cleveland beat reporters -- Jason Lloyd of The Athletic, Dave McMenamin of ESPN and Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com -- Irving never wanted LeBron to return from Miami in the first place, and thought about asking for a trade afer the Cavs won the NBA title in 2016.
A story on cbssports.com relates the full comments:
Lloyd: "It has been made clear to me by multiple people, Kyrie never really wanted LeBron to come back (to Cleveland) in the first place. He didn't think it was necessary. LeBron said something to Kyrie on the court following a game when he was with Miami something to the effect of, 'Keep going, keep doing what you're doing. You never know, I could be back here one day.' And Kyrie basically said, 'What's he talking about, we don't need him.'"
McMenamin: "Kyrie and his camp considered asking for a trade after the championship. They decided to keep it in house and not go forward with it, but it was something they discussed."
Irving wound up forcing the trade a year later and, of course, came to the Celtics.