Kyrie Irving released a video on Thursday saying farewell to the people of Cleveland, and it should come as no surprise that he did not mention LeBron James by name.
In a roughly four-minute clip he recorded on Tout, Irving explained his reason for forcing the Cavaliers to trade him. He seemingly addressed rumors about his rift with LeBron when he insisted that “wanting to be happy” was his only motivation.
Kyrie Irving finally speaks on the trade to Boston and shows love to Cleveland. No mention of Lebron tho. Pt 1 pic.twitter.com/IqQHO72f5t
— Joe Sports (@IamJoeSports) August 31, 2017
Pt 2 of Kyrie finally speaking about leaving Cleveland and wanting to be happy pic.twitter.com/kgxCRG5t8a
— Joe Sports (@IamJoeSports) August 31, 2017
“There are no other ulterior reasons other than wanting to be happy and be somewhere where you feel like it’s an environment that’s conducive to you maximizing your potential as a human being and as a player perfecting your craft,” Irving said.
Irving chose not to give shoutouts to any of his teammates, but he did refer to them all as “unbelievable human beings.”
“All the individuals that I met over a six-year span, you guys understand how much those moments meant to me,” he said. “… I still can’t believe the feats that we reached in a six-year span, and I’m truly grateful and thankful.”
That was a very diplomatic approach for Irving to take, especially since he is reportedly thrilled that he ended up with the Boston Celtics. If he wanted to deny some of the rumors out there about his relationship with LeBron, that would have been a good time to put them to rest.
