A Cleveland Cavaliers guard is sorry for what he said about LeBron James.
The Lakers played in Cleveland on Wednesday night. It was a homecoming game for LeBron James and his son, Bronny James. The Cavs topped the Lakers, 129-99, at home on Wednesday night.
Following the game, the Cavs were asked about the warm welcome that the City of Cleveland gave King James.
ESPN's Jorge Sedano asked Cavs star Donovan Mitchell the question, but Cavs forward Jaylon Tyson interjected.
"This is Donovan Mitchell's city now," the second-year player said. "When he comes back here, we're going to make sure everybody roots for him like they did for [James]. This is his city."
Mitchell, meanwhile, was less adamant.
"As much as I appreciate that, at the end of the day, he's laid the foundation," he said of LeBron James. "They've done a lot for the city being from here. Obviously, you want to replicate that. He deserves the energy that he's got here."
Tyson did not mean any disrespect toward LeBron James - perhaps the most famous athlete in Cleveland history - but he's sorry if it came off that way.
Cavs forward issues apology
"There was no disrespect there," Tyson said of his postgame comments while speaking to reporters. "I didn't wan to disrespect or step on anybody's toes. That's one of the greatest players to ever play the game. Obviously, I was a Cavs fan growing up because of him. I didn't want to take away from him, I just wanted to give Don his flowers. That was my biggest goal in it.
"If I offended anybody or anybody got mad about it, I'm sorry. I take personal responsibility. But I just wanted to give the man his flowers because we want to do the same thing that Bron and them did here, we want to do that with [Mitchell] as our leader."
LeBron likely didn't take it as disrespect, anyway.
And, at the end of the day, we could be seeing LeBron back in Cleveland in 2026-27.
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