Let’s get this out of the way: LeBron James wanted the Lakers to trade for Kyrie Irving last summer. With next Thursday’s NBA trade deadline less than a week away now, it was always fairly safe to assume that his thoughts hadn’t changed a whole lot on that in the intervening months.
But in case you had any doubts that James was ready for a reunion with his former Cleveland Cavaliers teammate, his two-emoji tweet on Friday in the wake of Irving’s latest trade demand left little reason to question where he stands on the possibility of such a deal:
Shortly after James’ tweet, Lakers assistant coach Phil Handy — as close to Irving as just about anyone in the NBA — replied with an eyes emoji of his own (that he subsequently deleted, but still lives on in screengrab form):
craziest thing I’ve seen in quite some time man.