Kyrie Irving says the Cavaliers wanted him out of Cleveland well before he requested a trade.

In a story by ESPN’s Jackie MacMullan, Kyrie painfully recalls how the Cavs shopped him last June.

Kyrie Irving was a champion on a contending franchise with LeBron James. But he wanted a greater challenge. https://t.co/gOVhvA1YDz — ESPN (@espn) January 3, 2018

“[Leaving] was inevitable,” he says in his first extensive comments since the trade. “I could feel it.” […] Cleveland had explored trading Kyrie in June, long before he asked out, a fact conveniently omitted when word of his demand leaked. Irving made the decision to remain silent while the details of his request were, in his word, “distorted.” “I didn’t feel the need to say anything because I knew the truth, and so did they,” he says. “So it didn’t matter what others said.” Still, for a split second, Irving winces, as though someone has pricked him with a pin. “They didn’t want me there,” he says.

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