LeBron James Reportedly Blindsided, Disappointed by Kyrie Irving Trade Request

Cleveland Cavaliers superstar LeBron James was reportedly "blindsided and disappointed" after learning point guard Kyrie Irving requested a trade from the Cavs.

On Friday, Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com passed along word of James' reaction to the stunning request, which apparently came during a meeting between Irving and the organization's brass last week.

"LeBron was devastated, from what I understand," Windhorst said, per Tommy Beer of Basketball Insiders. "He learned this several days ago. This wasn't new to him today."

Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today received a different take on James' response, though:

Irving told the Cavaliers, including team owner Dan Gilbert, his preferred destinations included the San Antonio Spurs, New York Knicks, Miami Heat and Minnesota Timberwolves, per Windhorst.

James doesn't plan to "intervene" in the situation despite being caught off guard and will allow the front office to "take the lead" when it comes to deciding how to moved forward, Windhorst added.

The 25-year-old Duke product told Maggie Gray of Sports Illustrated earlier this week the constant speculation about the team, including whether James would leave next summer, created a "peculiar" situation for the championship-contending squad.

"Like I said, we're in a peculiar place," Irving said. "The best thing we can do is handle things with class and professionalism. Obviously we have a great owner that's willing to spend a little money on guys that he believes in. At this point, we just see what happens throughout the summer."

Zillgitt previously reported James was "frustrated and concerned" about the lack of upgrades during the offseason after losing to the Golden State Warriors in the 2017 NBA Finals.

Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com noted in May the longtime gold standard of the current NBA era praised Irving for his ability to create.

"He was born to play one-on-one," James said. "That's what he do. I think what he's improving more upon is the feel of the game and taking his time and scoring and possessions and things of that nature and growing as a point guard and growing as a leader. But the kid was born to play one-on-one. You have those great one-on-one players in our league history and he's up there."

Meanwhile, the Cavs continue to operate without a general manager after David Griffin's exit in June, which was announced as a mutual decision.

Although it's unclear whether the GM-less Cavaliers have actually begun trade negotiations surrounding a potential Irving blockbuster, the rest of Cleveland's offseason just got a lot more interesting.