Former teammates on the Cleveland Cavaliers’ first and only championship team continue to spill the tea on one of the best duos in the league, LeBron James and Kyrie Irving. A split that happened in 2017 is still talked about since it took a long time for reconciliation. But apparently, the cracks were visible at least to one former NBA champion.

“I got there for the first year, each team goes to road team dinners. I don’t recall one team dinner where I saw Kyrie Irving there.” Kendrick Perkins was on the Cavs roster during the 2015 Finals run. The former player turned analyst claimed on his Road Trippin podcast that his former teammate Kai was absent from team dinners, suggesting he had no interest in building that bond.

“Kyrie to me, he never wanted to be on the Bron wing. He never wanted to be in his shadows. And the way that I looked at it, it was more so like it was almost as if it was like a ‘y’all kiss a–‘ around here type deal. And I’m not saying they were beefing, but because this is not my first time dealing with a situation like that.”

Once LeBron James left the Cavs for the first time, the franchise gave the keys to Kyrie Irving since his draft in 2011. It was one of the reasons why Bron also came back to form that destructive tandem. But reports suggest that Kai was not happy being the second option on the team. To further explain the apparent divide, Kendrick Perkins hinted that James would participate in scrimmages with the second unit to face Kyrie Irving.

This could be the regular competitive spirit that the two had during their time together. Another teammate, Iman Shumpert, stated exactly this during his appearance on Club Shay Shay podcast. “If you know Kyrie, he’s a Kobe guy. Kyrie wanted to beat LeBron. And that’s okay. Kyrie is like, ‘The only way I can be crowned the best is to beat the best. I’ve got to go head-to-head with you. I can’t team up with you.’”

At the time, the competitive spirit was the reported reason for Irving requesting a trade in 2017. In 2019, Kai admitted to apologizing to LeBron James publicly and privately for the fallout. While this caused tension in their relationship, two other former teammates dismissed Perkins’ statement.

Kyrie Irving’s behavior was not at fault

As Shumpert pointed out, Kai’s mentality was to win and stand out as the best player in the league, not just on the Cavs. So, the extra practice session outside of the ones that the Cavaliers were doing, or not going out much with the team, was never a sign of disrespect. It was more of a message from Kyrie Irving that he was locked in to win.

Former teammate Channing Frye, on the same Road Trippin podcast, pointed out the difference to Kendrick Perkins. “Like you were saying about Kyrie and his trainer. Just so everyone knows, Kevin had his own trainer, Bron had his own trainer, Kyrie had his own trainer, and then the rest of the team had their own trainer. But like for us, whatever they needed to do to be great, we were like, ‘go freaking do it.'”

Frye was part of the Cavs’ winning team and was on the roster longer than Big Perk. Similarly, Richard Jefferson was also not letting Kyrie Irving’s image get harmed. “When we started going to dinner, like during the playoffs, those two years during those playoff runs. Kyrie was not at a lot of those dinners. I will defend that Kyrie was at the dinners. Again, players want to grow, people want to expand, but I’ll defend Kyrie that it wasn’t like he was just like non not around.”

‘Whether it was a refusal to be the second option or knowing that the front office was looking to shop him around, Kyrie Irving ultimately decided to break away from LeBron James.