Kyrie Irving Doesn't Care If LeBron Took Trade Request Personally

Kyrie Irving made an appearance on ESPN's First Take today to talk about, what else, his decision to demand a trade from Cleveland and his new teammates with the Boston Celtics. 

In discussing Kyrie's departure from "The Land," Stephen A. Smith asked the 25-year old 4x All-Star point guard if he spoke to LeBron James before making his trade request. Irving replied, "Why would I have to?" and said, when asked, that he didn't care if his former teammate took it personal that he asked for a trade.

Check out the clip below.

Irving continued (per Bleacher Report),

"I don't think you owe anything to another person in terms of figuring out what you want to do with your life. It's not anything personal, I'm not here to tirade anybody or to go at any particular person or the organization because I have nothing but love for Cleveland. I have nothing but love for the time I spent there. It's nothing about that. There comes a time where you mature as an individual, it's time to make that decision. and there is no looking back from that standpoint. There is no time to figure out how to save somebody's feelings when ultimately you have to be selfish in figuring out what you want to do."

Stephen A. also grilled Kyrie about why he'd want to leave a situation where he was basically guaranteed a chance to compete for an NBA championship.

"It wasn't about me not wanting to win, it wasn't anything about that," Kyrie said. "I want to be extremely, extremely happy in perfecting my craft and that was the only intent I had in all of this." 

Throughout his appearance on First Take, Kyrie said his decision to leave Cleveland wasn't about getting away from LeBron, but moreso putting himself in a position to grow as a player and be happy. And he feels he can absolutely win a championship without LeBron by his side.