Kyrie Irving Left Cavaliers For Celtics Because LeBron James 'Didn't Need' Him

Kyrie Irving left for the Boston Celtics last year because he was not allowed to be the Scottie Pippen to LeBron James' Michael Jordan according to former Cleveland Cavaliers general manager David Griffin.

Irving was named Rookie of the Year following his first season with the Cavs in 2012 and quickly became a leading player for the franchise until the return of James from the Miami Heat in 2014.

Playing second fiddle to the 33-year-old, Irving and James still formed an effective partnership as they helped the Cleveland side famously come back from 3-1 down to win 4-3 against the Golden State Warriors in 2016 to give the franchise their first-ever NBA championship. The former notably hit the decisive three-pointer.

However, they were dominated by the Warriors in the finals the following year before Irving surprisingly asked to be traded as he preferred to be the focal point of a team.

The decision paid dividends as the 26-year-old's regular season average of 24.4 points, 3.8 rebounds and 5.1 assists per game helped the Celtics finish above James' Cavaliers side as the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference, though Irving missed out on the last 15 games of the season due to knee soreness.

While his need to be the focal point is understandable, Griffin believes both him and James could have co-existed together much like Jordan and Pippen did for the Chicago Bulls. The only difference was, as good as Irving was offensively, James did not need him like Jordan needed Pippen.

"[He] had been carrying the load offensively for a bad team … [but] hadn't been given the opportunity [to lead] yet, and just when we're gonna be good, LeBron shows up and it's his team," Griffin said, as quoted on The Ringer. "So he never got the chance to take the natural progression in his career where he had to try to carry the load and see how good he could be. And he really wanted that."

"He'd been doing it on a bad team. He wanted a chance to do it on a good team. And it wasn't about being the man—it's: 'How good can I be? What am I capable of? LeBron can score; he doesn't need me to score. LeBron can make all the passes; he doesn't need me to do that. I'm not a better defender than he is.' So I think you get to the point where the fit and the need LeBron had for Kyrie wasn't going to allow him to become Scottie because he didn't need Kyrie to fill in the gaps, necessarily."

"Now … would it have been better if they could've tricked each other into recognizing, 'Hey, look, just make it until we get to the Finals and then you take over?' Yeah, that would’ve been great, but I just don’t think that’s a very realistic outcome when you’re talking about guys as talented as those guys."

The Celtics defeated the Philadelphia 76ers in Game 5 on Wednesday night to seal passage to the Eastern Conference Finals where they will now meet the Cavaliers.

However, the added storyline of Irving playing against James will be absent as the former's knee soreness required surgery which ultimately ruled him out of the NBA playoffs.

Game 1 takes place on Sunday at the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts.