Ex-NBA champ critical of Kyrie Irving over trade request

Kyrie Irving is getting some heat from another point guard who won at the highest level playing in the shadow of all-time greats.

In an interview with Marla Ridenour of the Akron Beacon Journal that ran on Sunday, Ron Harper, who played in the NBA for 15 seasons from 1986 to 2001, criticized Irving for his trade request from the Cleveland Cavaliers.

“Youth. Ignorance,” said Harper of Irving. “When I used to play on bad teams and you trained all off-season to play 82 games, you get to the first round and you lose. You’re guaranteed to play till June. The East is good, but you know you’re the best basketball team. I don’t really understand what’s behind it.

“Young. Youth. Kids,” he continued. “Listen, the inmates are in charge. So when the inmates are in charge, nothing but bad things can happen, right? It’s not a guarantee that the Cavaliers are going to trade him to a good team. I asked a guy, ‘What happened to the old-school days?’ When a guy asked to get traded, you traded him to the sorriest team. That’s the way it worked.”

Harper is himself a former Cav, having played the first part of his career in Cleveland. He then went on to win three championships with the Chicago Bulls playing with Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen, followed by two more titles with the LA Lakers alongside Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant.

But Harper, who has never cared too much for the modern era, was much more of a defense-first role player on those championship teams and didn’t quite possess the All-Star-level offensive talent of somebody like Irving. One of Harper’s former Bulls teammates has actually come out publicly in support of Uncle Drew, so it really seems to be a matter of perception here.