Kyrie, LeBron talking reunion, per rant on ESPN

Kyrie Irving, according to Stephen A. Smith, has been calling LeBron James about linking up again.

Smith brought that nugget up twice on the Thursday edition of ESPN’s “First Take.”

Reports this week have said Irving and the Nets are at a contract impasse. He has a player option worth about $37 million, but wants a longer-term deal. The Lakers have a mid-level exception, with which they could pay him more than $6 million, but are otherwise hamstrung unless they find someone willing to take Russell Westbrook — and the $47 million he is owed for next season — off their hands.

Irving going to the Lakers would require the Nets to cooperate on a sign-and-trade. Presumably, it also would have to include a third team willing to take on Westbrook, who would be a rough basketball fit with Ben Simmons with the Nets, given both guards’ shooting woes.

Amid the turbulence, Smith shared the intel that Irving has been calling up James, his former teammate with the Cavaliers.

“He’s calling LeBron already. He’s calling LeBron,” Smith said.

“Remember that dude that he left, that he didn’t want to be a sidekick or little brother to? Remember that? … I happen to know he’s calling LeBron these days. Isn’t it beautiful how the world turns? There was once a soap opera called ‘As the World Turns.’ It’s ‘As Kyrie Turns.’ That’s the soap opera. We’re gonna hold onto that one all summer long. This is where he’s at.”

Later in the segment, as part of the latest impassioned Smith rant about Irving, he talked about how loyal Kevin Durant has been to his Nets teammate during all of the vaccine-mandate drama. He also mocked Irving for calling up James.

“We all know there’s nothing but ammunition for KD to throw you under the bus, and he has not done it,” said Smith, speaking directly to Irving as if the guard were the audience for the show.

“The same brother that you went on a podcast with a couple years ago and you said, ‘It’s nice to be with somebody where it’s the first time in my career where I ain’t worried about someone taking the last shot instead of me’ — which was clearly a shot at LeBron, who, by the way, you’re on the phone with now looking to reunite with!”