Harrison Barnes Talks Kyrie Irving Friendship & Irving’s Trade Request

After having Kyrie Irving as a groomsman in his wedding, Harrison Barnes chats with me about his friendship with Irving and Irving’s trade request.

Over the summer, Harrison Barnes tied the knot in a wedding ceremony that slowly gained steam around the media circuits due to the cast that was there and conversations that took place about video games.

One thing that did come out was a particular groomsman that was next to Barnes on his wedding day…Kyrie Irving.

Earlier in the summer, Irving had notably requested a trade from the Cleveland Cavaliers and now was in Barnes’ wedding where video leaked of him beside Stephen Curry doing a dance that mocked LeBron James.

“I was hoping it didn’t [get media attention]. I was hoping nothing really leaked out,” Barnes told me as we talked about his wedding.

When I asked him about his friendship with Irving, he said it dates back to his sophomore year in high school.

“Started at sophomore year at Top 100 camp. We both had a rough day out there competing against people. Someone got the best of me and someone got the best of him, so we were together moping and we started a friendship,” Barnes said.

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“We have been close for a number of years, he is like a brother to me.”

Since the wedding, Irving was involved in a blockbuster trade to the Boston Celtics that included Isaiah Thomas and Jae Crowder. But it was the fact that Irving was wanting out of Cleveland that rubbed some people the wrong way and brought about criticism.

For Barnes, he understood that his friend simply wanted to blaze his own path.

"“Guys want to blaze their own path. Obviously we talked a little bit about it. He wanted a change of scenery,” Barnes said. “He tried to go about it discretely, it was leaked to the media, not by his camp. I think he ended up in a great situation where he should be able to do everything he wants to do.”"

Now Kyrie gets to do exactly that as he is finally out of LeBron’s shadow.

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Irving might be a Blue Devil and Barnes a Tar Heel, but their friendship is something that goes beyond the court and Barnes is happy for his brother’s fresh start in Boston.