Despite the way their partnership in Cleveland ended, Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James and Dallas Mavericks star Kyrie Irving still share a special bond after they led the Cavaliers to their first ever NBA championship back in 2016. The bond was so special that Irving reportedly wanted to reunite with James this past summer when he was a free agent.
Ahead of Los Angeles' showdown with Dallas on Wednesday night, ESPN's Ramona Shelbourne revealed that Irving “had a strong interest” in once again playing with his former partner-in-crime, either with the Lakers or the Mavericks.
“Irving lives in Los Angeles in the offseason, and he had an open calendar after the Dallas Mavericks failed to make the playoffs,” Shelbourne wrote. “But he was also about to become a free agent, and according to sources close to him, Irving had a strong interest in reuniting with James — the man he'd won an NBA championship with as Cavaliers back in 2016 — either in Los Angeles or Dallas.”
Rumblings about Irving potentially positioning himself in Los Angeles grew loud when he appeared in two of the Lakers' playoff games last year. He was present when James led Los Angeles to a series-clinching win in Game 6 of its first round series against the Memphis Grizzlies. Likewise, he was there when the Lakers bowed out of the Western Conference Finals following a sweep at the hands of the Denver Nuggets.
Irving also tried to recruit James to join him and Luka Doncic in Dallas. Obviously, none of those plans to link up came to fruition.
One could only imagine the havoc they would wreck if Kyrie Irving and LeBron James were on the same team once again.