LeBron James Denies Report He'd Beat Kyrie Irving's Ass for Trade Request

Cleveland Cavaliers star LeBron James took to Twitter on Tuesday to deny rumors that he is unhappy with teammate Kyrie Irving.      

King James tweeted the following in regard to the rumblings:

ESPN's Stephen A. Smith (h/t Marcel Mutoni of Slam Online) reported Monday that LeBron would be tempted to "beat [Kyrie's] ass" if they were near each other.

Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com reported last week that Irving requested a trade from the Cavs.

In addition to the Smith report, James took exception to a report by Cleveland.com's Joe Vardon:

Vardon wrote Monday that James was "eager" for the team to trade Irving after it came to terms on a deal with point guard Derrick Rose in free agency.

Since James returned to Cleveland in 2014, he and Irving have experienced a great deal of success together.

They, along with Kevin Love, have led the Cavs to three consecutive appearances in the NBA Finals, including the first championship in Cavs history in 2016.

Even though Irving played second fiddle to James, he enjoyed a career year statistically in 2016-17 with 25.2 points, 5.8 assists and 3.2 rebounds per game.

He also put up big numbers in the playoffs with 25.9 points, 5.3 assists and 2.8 rebounds per contest.

Per Windhorst, Irving prefers to be traded to the San Antonio Spurs, New York Knicks, Minnesota Timberwolves or Miami Heat, and he reportedly has no interest in playing alongside James next season.

LeBron is locked in with the Cavs for the 2017-18 campaign, but he can opt out of his contract and become a free agent next offseason.