Irving's trade departure prompted James to leave Cleveland in 2018 and eventually join the Lakers.
Even though it's been nearly a decade already, many are still wondering if LeBron James decided to stay with the Cavaliers. The entire Eastern Conference ran through Cleveland, and James was a fixture in the NBA Finals but lost three of his last four title matchups against arguably the greatest team of all time in the Golden State Warriors.
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Apparently, according to ESPN expert and longtime LeBron chronicler Brian Windhorst, the four-time MVP was convinced to stay in Cleveland until the infamous trade request of Kyrie Irving happened in the 2017 offseason.
"I think LeBron intended to stay in Cleveland and then the Kyrie Irving thing blew up," said Brian Windhorst on ESPN Radio Los Angeles (h/t RealGM). "And that was in 2017. LeBron decided before his last year that he was going to be done in Cleveland."
Just over a month after losing against Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry and the Warriors in five games of the 2017 NBA Finals, Irving stunned the Cavaliers and the entire basketball world after it was reported that he asked for a trade. Wanting to lead a team of his own and excel outside James' massive shadow, the star guard was eventually dealt to the Boston Celtics for Isaiah Thomas, Jae Crowder and draft assets.
It was revealed then that LeBron had a "heavy heart" upon learning the trade news about Irving. Despite this, he singlehandedly carried the Cavaliers to a memorable 2017–18 season, reaching the NBA Finals for the fourth consecutive time before being swept by the Warriors.
James ultimately joined the Los Angeles Lakers as a free agent, and the rest was just history.
"I think in 2017, he looked around and saw the Lakers and saw a great opportunity. And whether he decided he wanted to do that in August of 2017 or whenever, he made the decision on July 1st. His previous two times [leaving Cleveland and Miami], he dragged his thing out until July 7th or 8th. He knew what he was doing," Windhorst argued.
"And the Lakers made trades at the [2017-18] trade deadline to open up the cap space. The Lakers knew what he was doing."
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