J.R. Smith endorses LeBron James pumping up Kyrie for MVP campaign

It’s been a busy day for the Cleveland Cavaliers on social media. Kyrie Irving and LeBron James teased a new championship pack for public consumption based on the shoes they wore during the NBA Finals victories. LeBron James teased Kevin Love about shoes he wore in high school that were, well, pretty ridiculous.

And then J.R. Smith endorsed a conspiracy theory about how the Cavs might get their star an MVP. Except it wasn’t the star you might think.

The chances of Kyrie Irving winning an MVP don’t seem particularly high. He’s somewhere in the top 25 players of the NBA, and it’s hard to make a case coming into the year of him cracking the top 8. He will play on one of the best teams, but LeBron James is the clearly superior player. If James clamors for Irving, and he puts together a true shooting rate around 61-62% (which would be well above his career averages), it would still require serious defensive improvement. It’s possible, but it’s hard to call it likely.

In the meantime, it’s good to see that Smith and Irving are on the same page. It’s much more likely that James finds himself in the MVP race, but the Cavs clearly believe in Kyrie. And after last June, who could blame them?