Michael Singer

USA TODAY

Another day, another NBA rumor debunked.

ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith said on Monday that he’d been hearing Cavaliers PG Kyrie Irving wanted out of Cleveland.

“Dating back to last year, I’ve been told that Kyrie ain’t too happy being in Cleveland,” Smith said on First Take. “The situation is not ideal for him. I don’t know the particulars. I haven’t spoken to him personally. It’s something that I’ve been hearing for months; that under ideal circumstances he would prefer to be someplace other than Cleveland.”

If Irving wants a shot at a title, objectively speaking, Cleveland offers as good a shot as any franchise outside of Golden State. It’s not necessary to cite the advantages of playing with LeBron James and Kevin Love. They’re obvious and appear to be obvious to Irving, who addressed Smith’s rumblings after the Cavs took down the Indiana Pacers on Monday night.

“There’s nothing really to address,” Irving said in his postgame comments. “Obviously there’s going to be some misunderstandings; it’s part of being on a team. For me, as a maturing young player in this league, I know what we have and the opportunity we have in order to be something special.”

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There may have been some truth to the notion that Irving wanted out of Cleveland earlier in his career when the Cavs were awful, but that was before James returned. Those rumors have quelled substantially.

Irving, who had 22 points and six assists in the win for the first-place Cavs, then turned his attention to the rumor mill in general.

“For me, all that other stuff, what everyone is going to say, they’re going to pick one player, it’s going to change every single week. When they think that we’re down and out, they’re going to choose one player, so for me, it has no effect on my life or what’s going on. It’s all about winning and winning a championship for Cleveland.”

There isn’t much nuance there. Irving signed a five-year max deal with the Cavs in the summer of 2014, which will be a massive bargain once the cap spikes this summer. So for now, he, James, Love and new coach Tyronn Lue must simply accept that there will be rumors of unrest until they prove they can win a title.

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