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LOS ANGELES -- Kyrie Irving is expected to play in Los Angeles' famed Drew League on Saturday, the commissioner of the pro-am basketball league, Dino Smiley, told ESPN. However, he is not scheduled to play at the same time as LeBron James, according to Smiley. Irving is scheduled to play at 11 a.m. PT, and James' game will tip off at 1:45 p.m., Smiley said. James will be making his first appearance at the Drew League since 2011, when the NBA was shut down because of a lockout. Yahoo Sports reported earlier about James' planned return to the Drew. Irving and James teamed together on the Cleveland Cavaliers for three seasons, making it to three straight NBA Finals and winning the championship in 2016 while becoming the first teammates in Finals history to both score 40-plus points in the same game. Irving recently picked up his $36.5 million player option for the 2022-23 season with the Brooklyn Nets, and James is in the final year of his contract with the Los Angeles Lakers, although he will be eligible to sign an extension with L.A. starting next month. Los Angeles has engaged Brooklyn in trade talks in recent weeks to attempt to acquire Irving in a deal that would send Russell Westbrook to the Nets, sources told ESPN. Thus far, those talks have not progressed toward an agreement. The Drew League was founded in 1973 and has seen a pilgrimage of NBA players ascend on the Charles Drew Junior High School gymnasium during the summers ever since to participate in the competition during the NBA offseason.
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