Irving, James to get reacquainted
NOTEBOOK
LOS ANGELES — Kyrie Irving, who has been reluctant to discuss his relationship with LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers since last summer’s trade to the Celtics, politely braced himself for yesterday’s onslaught during All-Star weekend’s media day.
“I think it will be awesome, great,” Irving said of playing again with James in tonight’s All-Star Game.
Irving was asked if he’d throw his former teammate an alley-oop pass.
“It’s the All-Star Game, man,” he said.
James, as the more expansive of the two AllStars, said there was never any doubt he would pick Irving under the game’s new playground format.
“If he was available, I was taking him,” James said. “Any time I get an opportunity to be with a fellow teammate of mine on the same court, and then you add on the fact of what we were able to accomplish in the three years, they just make it special. You automatically start thinking about the moments.
“There was a time when I was in Miami when I thought about if there was a chance for me to be Kyrie’s teammate at All-Star Weekend. I thought about that. I didn’t think it would be possible, and then we became teammates. We were on the same All-Star court together as teammates. Then, now, being opponents once again, those thoughts still go into my head of how great it was to break the drought in our city, over 50plus years, when the both of us had magical, magical (NBA) Finals runs. So it’s always special.”
Lights, camera . . .
Irving’s brand was on full throttle.
Former Celtic Nate Robinson, one of Irving’s costars in his upcoming “Uncle Drew” summer movie, showed up with a camera crew to plug the film.
“Who wins in a one-onone, you or Uncle Drew,” Robinson shouted, to which Irving said, “Uncle Drew, of course.”
Guillermo Rodriguez, late-night TV host Jimmy Kimmel’s sidekick, wanted to know which NBA player Irving would most like to take a shower with. Irving smiled and looked the other way after hearing that one.
Leave it to Stephen Jackson, another former player holding a microphone, to truly catch Irving off guard. Jackson held up a rotating globe for Irving, sometime flat-earth proponent, to see.
“You see this, right? People been saying it’s flat. Kyrie, you say it’s flat,” said Jackson. “I have a great relationship with my little brother. I’m going to get him to sign the round one — nobody thinks I can get my globe signed, and it’s round, not flat.”
“Can we do it off-camera? OK, appreciate it,” Irving said.
Irving talked about his latest Uncle Drew venture, and having an active role in the design of his own sneakers. He likes his diversified career.
“Comes with a lot of sacrifice, privacy, when you have a chance to put your creative influence and things that have helped you develop as a person, you get to share that with the world, it’s pretty awesome,” he said. “You get to share it through art, through my game, through different avenues and sponsorships, and I try to take full advantage of that.”
Brown throws down
After his seven-dunk, 35-point performance in Friday night’s Rising Stars challenge, the C’s Jaylen Brown is open to competing in next year’s dunk contest. But first he wanted to survey the field in last night’s contest.
“I think the dunk contest is going to be pretty cool. I’m interested to see,” he said. “I told them I want to see what they’re going to do this year, and if they do something spectacular, then I’ll get in the next year. But I told them I’m going to see what you all got, and then I’ll see if I get in it or not.” ...
James’ viral tussle with Fox News host Laura Ingraham had a broad range of players commenting on their right to comment on social issues — that they’re not just guys who dribble and shoot.
“Sometimes because of the way we’re put on this platform, people have opinions of the way we should be and how we should act,” Irving said. “Things we should be involved with. The thing that gets overlooked is that we’re all human beings at the end of the day. It’s tough finding that balance, but for me it’s about finding respect with all people.”