Members of the Cleveland Cavaliers‘ 2016 championship team celebrated the 10-year anniversary of their comeback victory over the Golden State Warriors in Europe last week. Those included in the festivities were LeBron James, Kevin Love, J.R. Smith, Richard Jefferson, Channing Frye, Iman Shumpert, Tristan Thompson, and Matthew Dellavedova.
There were a few notable absences from the group. One of whom was Kyrie Irving. He was invited but decided not to attend. Irving clarified that “Me and my brothers, who played on the Cavs, bro we’re good,” in a video he posted on social media last week.
However, not all members of the team who were absent were actually invited. Center Timofey Mozgov told Sport Express — one of Russia’s most popular sports newspapers — that he would’ve gone, but he wasn’t invited. The interview was in Russian, so things from the interview can be lost in translation. But based on a translation provided by Eurohoops.net (and backed up by Google Translate), Mozgov said that he saw the videos, he would’ve loved to have been there, but no one wrote or called to invite him.
We don’t know the reasons behind Mozgov not receiving the invite, but it is disappointing to find out that not every member of the team was given the opportunity to celebrate one of the most memorable championships in basketball history.
Mozgov played for the Cavaliers for two seasons and was a key part of two runs to the NBA Finals. The 7’1″ center from Russia was the Cavs’ second-leading scorer in the 2015 Finals. He started 48 games and played in 76 for Cleveland during the 2015-16 season. He averaged 6.3 points and 4.4 rebounds per game that season.
