The thought of Kyrie Irving ever teaming up with LeBron James again seemed completely absurd after Irving forced his way out of Cleveland, but that hasn’t stopped people from talking about the possibility of Irving signing with the Los Angeles Lakers this summer. And if Instagram activity is any indication, LeBron would be open to it.
ESPN’s Brian Windhorst has reported that James wants to recruit Irving to be his teammate again and Irving is open to the idea. Then on Thursday, Jordan Schultz of Yahoo Sports noted that the two were spotted together in Los Angeles over the weekend. At the very least, that might indicate there is no lingering bad blood between LeBron and Kyrie.
All of that is just reporting and speculation, but LeBron himself dumped a whole bucket of gasoline on the rumors when he “liked” a photoshopped image on Instagram that depicts Irving in a Lakers uniform.
LeBron liking Kyrie in a Lakers Jersey ???????????????? pic.twitter.com/BvqxZlbuQj
— Tyler Conway (@jtylerconway) May 24, 2019
LeBron could always go with the old “accidental like button” excuse, but that seems like a pretty strong indicator of where his mindset is at.
Irving finally got a chance to be the No. 1 guy on a contending team with the Boston Celtics, and to say he was criticized for his leadership style would be an understatement. He even called James during the season to apologize when he got a better idea of how difficult it must have been to be in LeBron’s position in Cleveland.
Of course, there have been plenty of reasons to think Irving has no interest in playing with LeBron in LA, but it’s not exactly shocking that James is trying to recruit him. LeBron is 34, and the Lakers were nowhere close to championship contention last season. They need to sign at least one star free agent, so LeBron might as well go after all of them.
