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Report: Irving's father was upset with Cavs throughout Kyrie's tenure

Jesse D. Garrabrant / National Basketball Association / Getty

Kyrie Irving has refused to go into specifics regarding his divorce from the Cleveland Cavaliers, but by some accounts the seeds of the split were sown long before the All-Star point guard requested a trade this past summer.

Irving's father, Drederick, was upset with the organization throughout his son's six-year Cavaliers career, according to The Athletic's Jason Lloyd. Those gripes reportedly ranged from the roster the Cavs constructed around Irving before LeBron James returned in 2014, to the team's coaching decisions, to the way the front office handled his rookie extension negotiations.

During the 2015 Finals, a report surfaced that Drederick disagreed with the way the Cavs were handling Kyrie's health. Irving had been dealing with knee pain throughout that postseason, but played 44 minutes in Game 1 of the Finals, before suffering a fractured knee cap that sidelined him until late December the following season. Drederick was "furious" in the Cavs' locker room after the game, according to Lloyd.

Lloyd also recounted an incident, confirmed to him by three sources, that occurred at some point during the three years Irving and James spent as teammates, in which Drederick refused a high-five from Randy Mims - a Cavs staffer and close friend to James - and later explained his behavior by saying that he didn't think he and his son should be "fraternizing with the enemy."

Whether or not Irving shared his father's sentiments, it's clear the team and Irving's camp were often on different pages. The Cavs, for their part, were privately displeased with Irving's behavior, according to Lloyd. Not just in the way he forced his way out of Cleveland and later took veiled shots at the city, but the way he acted throughout his tenure.

Given all the baggage and evident friction, it seems splitting up was the best thing for both sides.

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