Kyrie Irving says he doesn't care if LeBron James took trade request personally

Kyrie Irving asked to leave the Cavaliers and was traded to Boston.

The new Celtics guard spoke with Stephen A. Smith at ESPN “First Take” about his relationship with LeBron James.

Per NBA, Smith: “Did you speak to LeBron James or talk to LeBron before you and your representatives met with ownership to let them know that you wanted out?”

Irving: “No.”

Smith: “Why not?”

Irving: “Why would I have to?”

Smith: “If you don’t speak to somebody about it, they might take it personally.”

Irving: “Yeah.”

Smith: “Do you care about that at all?”

Irving: “No.”

and additionally said he was not looking back in his career at all:

"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."

“I want to be extremely, extremely happy, like, in perfecting my craft. And that was the only the intent that I had in all of this.”