Kyrie Irving needed to apologize to LeBron James to ‘move forward’ with his life
Life as a leader has not been as easy as Kyrie Irving thought it would be.
So much so that Irving found himself making a phone call to LeBron James, the same teammate he grew sick of and demanded a trade away from back in 2017, which made him ‘the guy’ in Boston in the first place.
It was during that phone call, which came after a frustrating loss in Orlando, that Irving admitted to apologizing to the veteran James, explaining that he didn’t understand what James was trying to instill in him at that age.
The 26-year-old Irving explained the motive behind that call, which certainly seems to have successfully rekindled the duo’s friendship, in his sitdown interview with ESPN’s Rachel Nichols dropped on Wednesday.
“I think that it takes a very, very strong individual to replay a lot of the experiences that you’ve had,” Irving began. “A lot of anger that you had built up where you didn’t address the situation and you allowed it to fester, and then it was just combustion. Like it just came out and then you realize, ‘Hey, man, I didn’t have to deal with that the same way I dealt with that. I didn’t have to go about it that same way.'”
Nevertheless, Irving says that he has no regrets about his time with the Cavaliers and James ended, saying it was a necessary path for Irving to get to where he envisions his pro career going.
“I have no regrets in terms of any decisions that I made going about my individual journey and what I want and what I want and foresee for my career,” Irving offered. “Apologizing, that was a step for me, just to move forward in my life.”