The 2016 Cleveland Cavaliers threw themselves a 10-year anniversary party in the United Kingdom this week. Golf. Whiskey. Reminiscing about the time they came back from 3-1 down against a 73-win Warriors team. Most of the guys showed up. But the guy who hit the shot that actually won the title? Nowhere to be seen.
Kyrie Irving was the most obvious absence from the reunion trip across the pond. Former teammate JR Smith, who was there, told fans that Irving was invited but basically ghosted the group chat. Smith said Irving later posted a tribute on Instagram and even reached out directly, but by then the trip was already happening without him. Irving was at a basketball camp earlier in the week, so it’s not like he was in hiding. He just didn’t respond to the invite.
LeBron James was there. Kevin Love. Smith himself. Richard Jefferson, Tristan Thompson, Channing Frye, Iman Shumpert and Matthew Dellavedova all made the trip. They played golf, traded old stories, probably relitigated Game 7 a few times. That core group pretty much accounted for everyone who mattered on that roster. But the silence around Irving’s absence was loud enough that Smith had to address it publicly.
The guys who didn’t make the trip
Irving wasn’t the only no-show. A few other familiar names from that 2016 squad stayed home. James Jones, who is now an NBA executive, didn’t go. Neither did Timofey Mozgov, the backup center who started in Game 7 because of matchups. Mo Williams, the veteran guard who was an All-Star back in 2009, also skipped it. He’s now an assistant coach at Kentucky. Dahntay Jones, who played the last few minutes of that title clincher, is an assistant with the Clippers. And Jordan McRae, who was the end-of-the-bench guy, is still playing professionally overseas.
But let’s be real. Irving is the one people noticed. He delivered one of the most insane Game 7 performances in modern NBA history. The go-ahead three over Stephen Curry with under a minute left. The one that basically sealed Cleveland’s first championship in 52 years. Without that shot, LeBron’s legacy in Cleveland looks different. The reunion narrative looks different. Everything looks different.
The messy part is that Irving asked for a trade about a year later and the relationship with LeBron got weird for a while. They’ve both said they’ve moved on. But not showing up for the 10-year reunion trip, even after being invited, is the kind of thing that makes people wonder if that bridge is fully rebuilt. Smith said Irving reached out, which is something. But it wasn’t the same as being there.
Maybe he’ll make the 20-year one. That’s a long time from now. A lot can change.
Leave a Comment