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LeBron believes Irving 'can be the best point guard in the league very soon'

Steve Mitchell / USA TODAY Sports

LeBron James' individual brilliance and basketball IQ make his teammates' jobs a heck of a lot easier, which means players who are already stars like Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving can look forward to greater opportunities despite a potentially smaller share of the offensive workload than they're used to.

Love is already in the discussion among the best big men in the league - and certainly among the best power forwards - but Irving, while already an All-Star MVP, still has a ways to go to close the gap on Chris Paul in one of the most loaded point guard eras the NBA has ever seen.

The ever confident LeBron believes Irving is getting close, though, as he mentioned at the unveiling of his Nike LeBron 12's.

Via SI.com:

"I believe Kyrie can be the best point guard in the league very soon, and Kevin Love is already in the discussion as far as being the best power forward in the league," James said. "We have so many great (power forwards): Tim Duncan, if he's playing center or power forward, Dirk Nowitzki, LaMarcus Aldridge, Chris Bosh, Pau Gasol is still very good. But that's my vision, to maximize (Love's) potential, and his potential to be the best at his position."

Again, it's a lot easier to see Irving eventually getting there with LeBron as a teammate than it was at the end of last season, for example.

Irving averaged more than 20 points for the second consecutive season, but his shooting from the field and from distance, as well as his assist percentage, continued to decline during another tumultuous Cavs season.

Irving is coming off of tournament MVP honors at the FIBA World Cup and is already a two-time All-Star at just 22 years old, but his consistency and defensive effort will need to improve for him to truly enter the conversation with Paul as the game's best point guard.

Of course, in a post-Paul world somewhere down the line, Irving, Stephen Curry, Russell Westbrook and a host of other exciting young guards will be ready to battle over Point God status.

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