Duke basketball: Kyrie Irving recruiting LeBron James to Dallas

Former Duke basketball standout Kyrie Irving is looking to play with LeBron James again. 

It has been a long and winding road for former Duke basketball sensation Kyrie Irving since he parted ways with LeBron James in Cleveland.

The former No. 1 overall pick has since spent time with the Boston Celtics and Brooklyn Nets before things finally came to a head in New York ahead of the NBA Trading Deadline and he was shipped to the Dallas Mavericks.

However, even before the trade from Brooklyn to Dallas, Irving was trying to position himself a chance to reunite with James in Los Angeles with the Lakers.

Now, Irving, who is an unrestricted free agent this offseason, is trying to recruit LeBron to join him in Dallas.

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James is still under contract with the Lakers this upcoming season and has a player option ahead of the 2024-25 season before he becomes an unrestricted free agent.

A report surfaced in The Athletic last week during the NBA Finals that Irving had reached out to James to see if there was any interest in potentially joining the Dallas Mavericks this summer.

Irving has said publicly that he wants to return to Dallas, which missed the postseason in its entirety this season, although he publicly committed to both Boston and Brooklyn long term before forcing his way out of each organization.

Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson, a senior lead NBA insider at BallySports Network, reported that James’ response to Irving upon his request was, “I’ll think about it.”

Duke basketball product still looking for reunion

There is no chance that LeBron James and Kyrie Irving could team up in Dallas next season but all signs point to Irving wanting to join the Lakers, despite possible financial restrictions with the organization.

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The two led the Cleveland Cavaliers to its first NBA Championship in franchise history in 2015 against the Golden State Warriors, rallying from a 3-1 series deficit.

LeBron was noncommittal to playing in the NBA next season following the Lakers elimination from the postseason against the Denver Nuggets but reports have since surfaced that he will indeed play for the Lakers in the fall.