Phil Handy Reveals The truth Behind LeBron James And Kyrie Irving Relationship

The Cleveland Cavaliers won a title in 2016, and LeBron James had a key role in the success. He received a lot of help from his teammates, including Kyrie Irving. Well, Irving left the team. What happened back then? Phil Handy talked about LeBron and Irving, focusing on their relationship.

Handy joined the Cavs with Mike Brown in 2013-14. Brown got Handy ahead of the 2011-12 season. Handy won the 2016 and 2019 NBA championships. He went on the Battle for LA Podcast with Tom Azarly and Ryan Ward, and shared some juicy details.

“He wanted to be a winner,” Handy said. “I think it bothered him that people looked at him as an elite player that just really cared about numbers. You got to take a look at their team. Yeah, they were a young, talented team, but they weren’t ready to compete for a championship or anything like that. He was a young kid that just came into the league after playing one year of college basketball and he was trying to figure it out.”

LeBron and Irving worked well together

Irving had great talent but he needed to be mentored. Handy liked the role he was given.

“When I got to Cleveland, Mike Brown gave me my responsibility like, ‘Hey, you’re here to mentor Kyrie. We need to teach him how to work and help him try to take his game to another level,’” Handy added. “Kobe played a big part of that as well because after I left L.A., I reached out to Kobe and asked him if he would mentor Kyrie and help the kid as a peer. He was very receptive to that and Kyrie was very receptive to reaching out to Kobe.”

Many would agree that Irving is one of the most complicated players in the league.

“There was a lot of things about him that people just didn’t know. He wanted to be a winner. He wanted to put himself in a different category in terms of what his legacy would look like down the road. He’s put in the work. He’s willing to be a student. He studied the game. LeBron came back to Cleveland and that really helped him take that next step as well.”

Phil Handy talked about the connection between LeBron and Irving

LeBron and Irving led the team to three NBA Finals, including the title win in 2016. Irving wanted to leave the team after the 2017 Finals and the loss to the Golden State Warriors.

King James and Irving had a lot of problems at the time, but they overcame it.

“People always have to have something to write about,” Handy said of the relationship between LeBron and Irving. “We came back that first year and we went to the NBA Finals. Kyrie was injured and banged up, but man, them two are one of the top duos of all time, in my opinion. Just the way that they played together, with the relationship that they figured it out. They’re both two guys that needed the ball in their hands and they figured out how to play with each other and not let that affect them. Ty Lue did a good job of managing that as well and put those guys in a position to be successful. Them two dudes got along and they got along great.

“I think people always try to come up with some narratives, trying to pit one elite player against another upcoming elite player. But when Bron came in, he was in the mindset of, ‘Man, I’m here to help all of my teammates.’ That was the attitude that he came in with him and Ky was receptive to it and they found ways to be successful together. I wish we could’ve did it for a few more years.”