LeBron admits he asked Cavaliers not to trade Kyrie

Kyrie Irving's mind was made up on wanting a fresh start away from the Cleveland Cavaliers, yet that didn't stop his superstar running mate LeBron James from making an effort to keep him from leaving via trade.

In an interview with ESPN's Rachel Nichols on Wednesday as part of NBA Finals Media Day, James revealed for the first time publicly that he reached out to Cavaliers brass to try and get them to keep the All-Star point guard.

"Even if you start back to the summertime where I felt like it was just bad for our franchise just to be able to trade away our superstar point guard," James said, per ESPN's Brian Windhorst. "A guy that I had been in so many battles with over the last three years and obviously I wasn't a part of the communications and know exactly what went on between the two sides. But I just felt like it was bad timing for our team."

Related: LeBron questioned whether Cavaliers would make playoffs this year

It was previously reported that James didn't want the Cavaliers to comply to Irving's demands for a move, but it's only now that we're hearing it straight from the horse's mouth.

There was even a report months into the season that Irving had threatened to go under the knife to fix his ailing knee and then sit out the 2017-18 campaign if the Cavaliers didn't follow through on a trade, although Irving later denied that was ever the case.

Cleveland wound up shipping Irving to Boston to join the Celtics, receiving Isaiah Thomas, Jae Crowder, Ante Zizic, the rights to the Brooklyn Nets' first-round draft pick in 2018, and an added second-rounder. Thomas and Crowder didn't last long in their new surroundings, though, as they were both traded at the Feb. 8 deadline.

The Cavaliers bounced Boston in the Eastern Conference finals in seven games, although Irving missed the entire postseason as a result of left knee surgery.