Kyrie Irving denies report that he threatened knee surgery to force trade from Cavs
On Thursday, Cleveland.com reported that Kyrie Irving threatened to have season-ending knee surgery to induce a trade from the Cleveland Cavaliers last offseason.
The report details that Irving, now with the Boston Celtics, still requires minor knee surgery and that LeBron James “has made it no secret in recent weeks that he felt Irving shouldn’t have been traded.”
On Friday, Irving responded. While appearing frustrated at the media scrutiny he has invited, Irving denied the report.
The #Celtics Kyrie Irving addresses the report that he said he would sit out this season and have knee surgery if the #Cavs didn’t trade him pic.twitter.com/sPTExXD3FL
— A. Sherrod Blakely (@ASherrodblakely) January 26, 2018
“It’s kind of crazy the amount of things that are still coming out,” Irving told reporters. … “I’m just ready to move on. It’s not true.”
The report on Irving and his subsequent denial come on the heels of an ESPN report that LeBron James was upset that the Cavs didn’t add Paul George and Eric Bledsoe in the offseason.
“What’s really pissing LeBron off is that he felt like the Cavs could have gotten Paul George and Eric Bledsoe, and they didn’t get him,” ESPN’s Brian Windhorst told Zach Lowe on his colleague’s podcast.
While the reports are numerous and sometimes lead to denials like Irving’s on Friday, some facts remain indisputable. All is not well in Cleveland, and James is not happy about it.
