LeBron James' Ex-Teammate Clears The Air on Kyrie Irving & Other Stars' Absence from Cavs Reunion Tour

While the NBA world was firmly focused on the New York Knicks celebrating their first championship in 53 years, members of the Cleveland Cavaliers' historic 2016 team had their own celebrations in Europe this summer. The likes of LeBron James, Kevin Love, and JR Smith reunited 10 years after their championship triumph, but a couple of notable absences caught fans' attention and raised plenty of questions. Richard Jefferson, who was also part of the reunion, provided some clarity on the situation.

Jefferson, who averaged 5.7 points and 5.3 rebounds in the 2016 Finals, said, "I think everybody got reached out to," in the Road Trippin podcast, before correcting himself.

"I won't say everybody, I think a lot of the guys got reached out to."

According to Jefferson, conversations about the reunion began in a group chat that included him, Smith, Tristan Thompson, Love, Channing Frye, and James.

It initially started as a simple get-together before evolving into something bigger. The group eventually reached out to other members of the 2016 Cavaliers championship team who were not part of the chat, inviting them to join the reunion.

He named Kyrie Irving, Matthew Dellavedova, and Iman Shumpert as examples of players who received an invite. But of them, Irving chose not to attend the event. The current Dallas Mavericks guard had commitments with the NBPA and was serving as a teacher in a Top 100 Camp in South Carolina.

Despite his ugly exit from Cleveland in 2017, Irving remains an integral part of the franchise's history. It was his Game 7 shot in the NBA Finals, after the Cavaliers had come back from a 3-1 deficit against the Warriors to become the first team in NBA history to do so, that delivered the city its first championship. That alone explains why he received an invite.

The same cannot be said, sadly, for Timofey Mozgov.

Irving and Mozgov's reactions to missing out on the Cavs reunion

Due to how pivotal he was to their championship, Irving's absence immediately caught the attention of fans. This even led J.R. Smith to speak up and confirm that Irving received an invite, but that he was the one who ghosted them.

After plenty of speculation about why he was missing, Irving responded. He did not address why he was not there, but he let everyone know he still considers the 2016 Cavs his family through an Instagram post.

"All for one. One for All," Irving said. "WE completed the mission together as brothers, and that's all that matters to me."

Meanwhile, Russian center Timofey Mozgov also addressed his absence. While Irving received an invite, the former Cavaliers center's story was very different. According to Mozgov, he only found out about the reunion after seeing videos of his former teammates celebrating, and his reaction was heartbreaking.

He revealed that he never received an invite, either through a phone call or a message. Had he been invited, Mozgov said he would have happily joined his former teammates for a few glasses of wine.

“I saw the video of that party. No one wrote or called me," he said.

During the Cavaliers' 2016 championship run, Mozgov appeared in 13 playoff games. Serving as a backup center, he primarily provided interior defense and rebounding. He averaged 1.2 points and 1.6 rebounds in 5.8 minutes per game.

While most of Cleveland's championship core reunited to relive one of the franchise's greatest moments, the stories of Irving and Mozgov showed that not every member of that historic team experienced the reunion in quite the same way.