Gilbert says he read about Kyrie Irving’s trade request in the media

Kyrie Irving reportedly requested a trade to Dan Gilbert several weeks ago. At Koby Altman’s opening press conference, Dan Gilbert declined to confirm that, and said that he read about the request just like everybody else.

Though you’d love to take the Cavaliers owner at his word, this seems dubious at best. Irving’s agent Jeff Wechsler released a complete non-denial when discussing the meeting he held with Irving in Brian Windhorst’s original report.

"Kyrie and I had a meeting with Cavs leadership where we discussed many different scenarios in reference to Kyrie and his future with the team," Wechsler told ESPN. "The basis of those discussions and what went on in those discussions are between the Cavs and us. We are respectfully going to keep those private."

This is almost certainly just posturing from Gilbert, and neither Gilbert nor Altman were really willing to discuss the Irving issue. Whether they want to talk about it or not, it appears to be coming to a head. We’ll see what direction the team takes.

Editor's Note: The title of this story has been changed from "learned about" to "read about" to better reflect Gilbert's statement.