LeBron James Told Kyrie Irving, Tristan Thompson To ‘Do Everything I Tell You To Do And We’ll Win’ When He Returned To Cavs In 2014

LeBron James returned to the Cleveland Cavaliers in the summer of 2014 after playing for the Miami Heat from 2010-11 to 2013-14. 

James won two MVPs, two championships and two Finals MVPs with the Heat, who went to four straight NBA Finals during the LeBron era. 

When James returned to the Cavaliers in 2014, one of the first things he did was talk to Kyrie Irving and Tristan Thompson, according to Jason Lloyd of The Athletic. James told Irving and Thompson, two talented players who had never played in a postseason game, to do everything he told them to do. 

“When James returned to the Cavs in 2014, one of the first things he did was pull aside young stars like Kyrie Irving and Tristan Thompson and essentially tell them, ‘Do everything I tell you to do and we’ll win.’ They did. And they did,” Lloyd wrote. 

The Cavaliers went to four consecutive NBA Finals during the second James era. Cleveland won the 2016 championship against the Golden State Warriors in seven games, becoming the first team in NBA history to come back from a 3-1 series deficit in the NBA Finals. 

Irving hit the game-winning shot over Warriors star Stephen Curry in Game 7 at Oracle Arena. Meanwhile, James had his famous chase-down block on Golden State forward Andre Iguodala. 

The Cavaliers lost the 2015, 2017 and 2018 NBA Finals to the Warriors, who added Kevin Durant after losing in 2016. Irving hurt his knee in Game 1 of the 2015 NBA Finals, while Kevin Love missed the entire 2015 NBA Finals after getting hurt against the Boston Celtics. 

Irving requested a trade from the Cavaliers in the summer of 2017 and was traded to the Celtics. Cleveland got swept by Golden State in the 2018 NBA Finals despite James putting up incredible numbers. 

In the summer of 2018, James signed with the Los Angeles Lakers. He won his fourth title and fourth Finals MVP in 2020 and became the leading scorer of all time in 2023.