LeBron James and Kyrie Irving had a "healthy" exchange in the locker room following the Cleveland Cavaliers' loss to the Portland Trail Blazers on Tuesday, reports ESPN's Brian Windhorst. Bothered the the Cavs' stagnant offense, James initiated a conversation that led to Irving leaving the locker room before meeting with the media, sources told Windhorst.
LeBron James reportedly confronted Kyrie Irving about his ‘bad habits’
LeBron James and Kyrie Irving exchanged words after the Cleveland Cavaliers lost to the Portland Trail Blazers on Tuesday night. James wants Irving to play less selfishly.
Jason Miller
The exchange after the loss to Portland came as Irving went 3-for-17 and didn’t record an assist in the second half.
“There’s a lot of bad habits, a lot of bad habits been built up the past couple years,” James said to the media moments after the exchange. “When you play that style of basketball, it takes a lot to get it up out of you.”
It’s not uncommon for stars to have these types of conversations with one another, but there’s certainly a bright enough spotlight on James and Irving for this to be newsworthy. James’ leadership and his public critiques of his teammates are evidence that he’s antsy to make his new team a title contender sooner rather than later.
The Cavs offense has been far from perfect and even far from good this year. Less than 24 hours after the exchange between James and Irving, Cleveland fell to 1-3 on the season as Gordon Hayward's last-second shot pushed the Utah Jazz to a win. Irving didn't record an assist in the 102-100 loss to the Jazz, but he did score 34 points on 12-for-23 shooting. The Cavs point guard has taken 36 shots since his last assist.
As a team, Cleveland recorded a franchise-low six assists in Utah, perhaps the most glaring sign that it has much work ahead in rectifying its offensive woes.
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