Does Kyrie Irving have beef with Anthony Davis?

Kyrie Irving is not exactly Mr. Popular these days, and we may be able to add another fellow NBA star to his list of enemies.

Steve Bulpett of Heavy.com, who used to work for the Boston Herald and has covered the Celtics for several decades, reported this week on Irving’s efforts to recruit Anthony Davis to Boston in the 2018-19 season. Quoting an anonymous NBA executive, the report said that Irving was courting Davis, who was on the New Orleans Pelicans at the time, to join him on the Celtics and that Boston may have been able to work out a trade with the Pelicans. However, the executive adds that Irving and Davis ended up having “a little bit of a falling out for some reason” down the line.

The two stars soon went their separate ways. Irving teamed up with Kevin Durant in Brooklyn instead during the 2019 offseason, and Davis got traded to the L.A. Lakers that very same summer, pairing him with LeBron James.

Bulpett’s report has other interesting tidbits about the end of Irving’s career in Boston. You can read it in full here.

Irving and Davis were previously teammates on USA Basketball, competing in the 2014 FIBA World Cup together. Both of them played on the Olympic team as well but never at the same time (Davis on the 2012 team and Irving on the 2016 team).

There were indeed suggestions at the time that Irving wanting to join forces with Davis. But now we know that issues of some sort between the two stars may have contributed to why it never happened.

Photo: Feb 1, 2020; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; Brooklyn Nets guard Kyrie Irving (11) during the second half against the Washington Wizards at Capital One Arena. Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports