Lakers News: Kyrie Irving Ghosts Drew League Games on Saturday

While Lakers superstar LeBron James dropped 42 in his first Drew League in 11 years, Kyrie Irving no-shows.

Everyone was expecting Kyrie Irving, former teammate of James, to make an appearance in the Drew League and light up the floor just like James did, but he never showed faced the whole day. 

ESPN's Dave McMenamin reported that the Drew League commissioner, Dino Smiley, was a bit surprised by Irving's no-show.

"Drew League commissioner Dino Smiley to ESPN when asked about Kyrie Irving: “We still have a couple games left today and then six tomorrow. So, (we’ll see). But that sounded like it was going to be a sure bet but I don’t know what happened.”

The Brooklyn Nets guard was supposed to play just a few games before James but instead, he was spotted somewhere else in southern California.

Saturday morning, Irving was seen helping Lakers assistant coach, Phil Handy, at a youth basketball camp at Mamba Sports Academy in Thousand Oaks. The camp was less than 60 miles away from where Drew League was being held in Compton, California. 

More of Kyrie Irving at Phil Handy’s camp 🔥 pic.twitter.com/9sYfjAzlLk

— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) July 16, 2022

It's not the first time Irving has missed a game he was supposed to be playing in. The mercurial guard infamously played in just 29 games for Brooklyn this past season due to New York state vaccine mandates.

The 30 year old guard recently accepted a $36.5 million player option for the 2022-23 season with the Brooklyn Nets. 

But, could his relationship with Coach Hardy bring him to Los Angeles in the future or was this just Irving just helping an old friend out and accidentally double booked himself that day?