Count John Wall among those who don’t quite understand why Kyrie Irving wants out of Cleveland so badly.
The Washington Wizards point guard weighed in on Irving’s trade request, admitting that while he wasn’t privy to the reasoning and understood the difficulties in playing second fiddle to LeBron James, he was still a bit befuddled by Irving’s desire to leave.
“That was crazy to me. I didn’t know that was happening at all. Well, too bad,” Wall said, via Chase Hughes of CSN Mid-Atlantic. “It’s kinda tough. If I had been to three straight [NBA] Finals, I’d want to stay but you never know what type of relationship or what type of details they have going on the backside. Nobody knows what’s going on behind closed doors. He’s one of those guys who wants to be the main guy.
“It’s a different situation when you’re playing with a guy like LeBron James who is so dominant. Everyone is always going to be the second guy to him. It’s kind of like what I tell all the young guys when they first come into the league. It’s kind of tough to get the young guys to play as one on the floor because everybody is trying to build their name up and start their own foundation. It’s kind of tough when you’re always in the shadow of somebody else. That’s something he probably got tired of.”
Wall isn’t the only NBA player to raise an eyebrow at the Cavaliers point guard’s trade request. It’s fair to say that the request caught the pros by surprise as much as it did outside observers.
