An hour after the formal portion of practice ended, LeBron James and Kyrie Irving remained on the floor shooting 3-pointers and free throws. Shooting contests from the wing, the corner and the top of the arc, then more free throws, then more 3-pointers. They'd shoot two 3-pointers at a time then rotate. And then do it all again.
Teammates stood around waiting patiently, then not so patiently. Mo Williams did three separate, lengthy interviews about his academy, the floor on which Irving and James continued shooting and shooting and shooting. Williams was done, but his teammates weren't.
Patience wore thin. Other teammates began grumbling. The guys kept shooting.
"I will never leave the court without him," James said. "Meaning if he's the only person in there shooting, I'm not going to leave. I'm not. And he knows that."
This has become a common scene this season, both as Irving was working his way back from offseason knee surgery and since he has returned to games. They frequently do it after home practices, when everyone has their own vehicles and can leave when they want. But when they do it on the road, the rest of the players and staff are at the mercy of the King and his protege.
Such as last month in Orlando, Fla., when the two stars staged a similar lengthy shooting clinic. Most of the rest of the players had already showered and returned to the bleachers waiting while Irving and James were still shooting and sweating. When last Monday’s extra shooting session dragged on and on, an assistant coach walked back into the gym after it was over and snapped at James.
"They can leave us. They don't have to wait for us," James later said. "We know the way back."
That's exactly why James and Irving are doing this: So they know the way when it matters. Such as the fourth quarter of a tie game at Dallas when James stormed down the lane for a dunk, or overtime when James had the ball in his hands and flipped it back to Irving for a deep 3-pointer to clinch a victory.
"At the end of the day, late in games, the ball is going to be in our hands," James said. "We've got to be able to trust each other and our teammates have to be able to trust us. If they see us working like they always do, it gives them more trust in us. And then we have to come through for them."
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The relationship between James and Irving is strong and still growing, yet their path here is unique and complex. Irving walked into a franchise reduced to rubble because James left.
One of the first questions Irving had to answer following the draft lottery, the night the Cavs won the first overall pick and the chance to draft him, was about replacing James in Cleveland.
Those questions chased him for years. He always thought they were ridiculous and responded the same way: "I'm Kyrie Irving, I'm not LeBron James." Sounded good enough in theory, but the fact remained that Irving was here because James was not.
Irving's first three seasons were difficult. He was an immature kid thrust into the alpha-dog role trying to do it all himself. His relationship with the media was volatile at times. Many of the problems could be traced back inadvertently to James' departure.
Then one summer afternoon, all of that changed. James announced his return and within months Irving went from the alpha dog to the youngest player on the team. He still is.
James and Irving weren't particularly close before James' return. Irving could've harbored resentment toward James, at least initially. He could've felt like, "After all you put me through, NOW you want to come back?" He insists that never crossed his mind.
"It was never like that. Never," Irving said. "I think if anything it was more of an understanding of what we both went through (as No. 1 picks).
"Knowing what he went through, I can never fault a man for that. Understanding there comes a point in everyone's career where they have to figure it out, that was his point in his career and we all respect it. He knows exactly what I went through and I know exactly what he went through. There's more or less a respect there now."
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Once James chose to return to Cleveland, he immediately began watching film of Irving because he wanted to be ahead when training camp started. He knew from afar that Irving was a great young player, but he wanted to learn tendencies. Film won't reveal a player's personality, but it will expose how much a point guard can help his teammates.
That's where Irving had so much to learn.
Irving believes he was doing what he had to do his first three years in the league for the Cavs to survive. He felt he had to take every shot, he had to drive on three defenders and force something up because it was better than the alternative.
This was one of the habits James had to break. In order to do that, he needed the ball. So James took the ball away from Irving early last season and began to teach.
"It was the best thing for me," Irving now concedes.
Irving knew how to score; James had to teach him how to trust others.
"I just wanted him to understand that he could mean so much more to our team by also being a playmaker for the guys that can't play-make for themselves at times," James said. "Obviously, he's able to go through two and three guys every single possession if he wants."
James used an example from the Cavs' overtime victory against the Mavericks on Tuesday when Irving drove to the middle of the lane coming off a pick and roll. Instead of taking the shot, he dropped a pass back to Kevin Love for an open 3-pointer.
"My game earlier in the season last year was all predicated on figuring out how to get these guys, and mostly Kyrie, to understand how important it is getting other guys involved," James said. "And he's a good student. Little hard-headed at times. (Young guys) all are, which I expected. I expected that."
Irving is well aware of the criticism that he is a scoring guard who doesn't make those around him better.
"If I can't do it with this team, and my presence isn't felt with the team and it doesn't show not only on the court but with the stats with everyone being better when I'm out there," Irving said, "then that's when you start believing that."
Irving's season of tutoring seems complete. Although Irving has appeared in just 10 games, James has turned much of the ball handling back over to him. Of course, James reserves the right to take it back late in games, which he has done frequently. But his tone has changed.
Now when he talks about relinquishing much of the offense, he says it's because the Cavs have three capable point guards who can run the system. That includes Irving, the most capable point guard of them all.
James has called him better than an All-Star and suggested he's already the best point guard in the league (at worst, top two) and will be a Most Valuable Player candidate one day soon _ high praise from a future hall of famer who has four such trophies himself.
Still, the lessons aren't over. James is 31 and closer to the end of his career than the beginning. Irving is only 23 with his best years still in front of him.
"My main objective is to get these guys to understand -- and obviously Kyrie is the biggest piece, him and Kev -- to understand how important this opportunity is," James said. "If I can do that, I've done my job.
"This opportunity doesn't come along a lot and I'm fortunate enough that I've been part of some unbelievable opportunities. Some I've succeeded in, some I haven't. I've never taken for granted the moment I was in. When you're young -- 23, 24, 25 -- you always think that there's another year, there's another time. There's not. There's just not."
A few minutes after he said that, James hugged his mother and kissed his wife in the hallway of American Airlines Center.
"I'm starving," he said as they all walked out into the Dallas night.
He's 31, a four-time MVP and a two-time champion. And LeBron James is still hungry. Now, too, is Irving.
