INDEPENDENCE, Ohio _ LeBron James said he expected at some point he would be handing Kyrie Irving the keys to the Cavaliers' castle.
But after Irving requested a trade this summer and was sent to the Boston Celtics, James said he won't be giving Irving any advice.
"We're trying to win a championship here," James said Monday as the Cavs held media day at Cleveland Clinic Courts. "You're either with us or you're against us. It was a gratifying three years that we played together. But even if my son went to another team and we were playing against each other, (expletive), he can come home and eat dinner or something, but he's getting no advice from me."
A four-time All-Star, Irving wanted to escape the shadow of four-time league MVP James so he could reach his full potential. James said the initial news, which blindsided all in the organization, left him with "a ton of emotions."
"I was wondering if there was something I coulda done better to make him not want to be traded," James said. "Is it the way the season finished, or was it me coming back in the first place? Was it the coaching changes or the GM change?
"I tried to do whatever I could do to help the kid out, be the best player he could be. Try to help him be a better leader. Be a better scorer, a better floor general. A better passer. Getting guys involved. A better leader vocally. I tried to give him everything and give him as much of the DNA as I could. So, the only thing I'm upset about is he took a lot of the DNA and a lot of the blueprint to Boston."
James wished Irving, 25, "great health," while also lauding new general manager Koby Altman for granting Irving's demand.
"It was definitely a shock, but Koby and the guys in the front office did a great job of putting together a package for our team to be as complete as we've been in a long time," James said.
James said he hasn't had any interaction with Irving since he was traded, but had "a little dialogue" when Irving's request came to light.
"I reached out to him because I just wanted to get a little insight on why he felt like he wanted to move on," James said. "He basically just let me know that that was the direction that he wanted to go in. And I was OK with that. It's a business. I understand that. It doesn't stop me from leading this franchise and leading this team. But I definitely just wanted to go right to him and ask him and he clarified it for me so I was at ease."
As for interaction since, James said, "You guys know Kyrie, so, next question."
The Cavs host the Celtics on opening night Oct. 17 and James knows the emotions will bubble up again because it's a teammate with whom he hoisted a trophy. He said he felt it when he first played the Miami Heat after he returned to Cleveland in 2014 and when he faced Matthew Dellavedova when the Cavs met the Milwaukee Bucks last season.
"There will be emotions that will go through your head because you know the grind and everything that you went through with that particular player," James said.
Kevin Love didn't sound as shocked as James, but as a friend of Irving wondered why he was left out of the loop.
"I think it was evident that Kyrie was eager for a chance and to be the Kyrie Irving he always knew he could be," Love said. "So for me, as far as it being a surprise, I don't know. I wouldn't say I was too surprised other than we had a great friendship, a great camaraderie. But you never know what's going on in somebody's head."
