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#pounditFriday, March 29, 2024

Kyrie Irving wants to take Kobe Bryant’s advice, create conflict for Cavs

Kyrie Irving

After the Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday, Kobe Bryant was asked what seemed to be missing with the Cavs. His response caught the ear of one of Cleveland’s brightest young players.

“You have to have that inner conflict,” Bryant said after that game, via Dave McMenamin of ESPN. “You have to have that person that’s really driving these things. From the Cavs’ perspective, it’s hard for me to tell from afar who should be that person. LeBron is not that person. LeBron, he’s a … he brings people together. That’s what he does naturally. He’s phenomenal at it. But you have to have somebody else who’s going to create that tension. Maybe it’s Kyrie.”

The Kyrie in question, one Kyrie Irving, took note of his idol’s comments and agreed with them.

“It’s in my personality, I would agree with that,” Irving said on Saturday. “I think if one of the greatest players to play our game and has had championship runs and has been on teams where he’s either been that or he’s been the guy that has been the emotional voice of the team and holding guys accountable, I think he said it best. I think that in order for our team to be where we want to go, I have to step up and be that other leader on our team other than LeBron. So, I would agree with that. It’s definitely in my personality. It’s taken me a few years to kind of grow into that and kind of earn my teammates’ respect and also hold myself accountable when I’m out there.”

Would such a role impact the relationship between LeBron James and Irving, which is reportedly already mediocre? Who knows. Things just don’t seem right in Cleveland. Perhaps Kobe is right that it’s healthy inner conflict that’s absent from the agenda.

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