Former Cleveland Cavaliers GM David Griffin explained on “The Bill Simmons Podcast” why Kyrie Irving and LeBron didn’t work in Cleveland.  

Somebody has to be Pippen, and somebody has to be Jordan, and I think that’s true. But Scottie Pippen got to the league because he was a freakishly gifted defensive player, and everything that he became offensively—certainly not the passing; he had that, he was an ancillary playmaker—but everything he had that brought him to the league helped him grow and evolve to the point where he was as good as he was. But it wasn’t like the situation in Chicago precluded him from showing those things. Michael needed everything that Scottie was, so they fit together.

And I think the fit of LeBron and Kyrie was difficult because Kyrie was so good offensively. [He] had been carrying the load offensively for a bad team … [but] hadn’t been given the opportunity [to lead] yet, and just when we’re gonna be good, LeBron shows up and it’s his team. So he never got the chance to take the natural progression in his career where he had to try to carry the load and see how good he could be. And he really wanted that.

When it came down to it, Kyrie wasn’t going to be LeBron’s Scottie Pippen. It’s a valid point.

Why would anybody be LeBron’s Pippen, when they can be Michael Jordan elsewhere?