Kobe Bryant has apparently been asked if he had an influential role in Kyrie Irving reportedly asking for a trade away from the Cavaliers. Based on Bryant’s response, we can assume that answers is no.
What has been a tumultuous offseason for the Cavaliers continued to be as such when it was reported Irving requested a trade during a meeting with team owner Dan Gilbert. One source of Irving’s frustration may be the style of play of LeBron James.
While that could very well be true, Bryant’s name has also come up as a possible factor. He squashed that theory with a single tweet on Monday, which you can see below.
I'm building @DrinkBODYARMOR @BryantStibel and a Media company but get asked if I'm influencing @KyrieIrving #mambaout pic.twitter.com/Nm3PirwKJs
— Kobe Bryant (@kobebryant) July 24, 2017
Bryant has been a mentor to Irving during his career, which no doubt led to people drawing a line back to the future Hall of Famer. However, as Bryant indicated, he has managed to keep himself busy in his post-playing days and it looks like that does not include urging Irving to continue his career out of the shadow of LeBron James.
