LeBron James responded to comments made by Kyrie Irving approximately two months ago about Kevin Durant's abilities in the clutch, which many took as criticism of James by omission.

"One thing I've always been comfortable with, I felt like I was the best option on every team I played for down the stretch," Irving said on the podcast. "This is the first time in my career I've looked down and be like, 'That motherf---er can make that shot too.' And he'll probably do it a lot easier.

"It's not so much deferring, because in past situations where I didn't take the last shot, I felt guilty. I want this game-winning shot, but also, you want to trust your teammates. Not that I didn't trust my teammates, but I felt like I was the best option."

James' comments were made on the Road Trippin' Podcast.

"I was a little like, 'Damn.' Once I got the whole transcript, I was like, 'Damn,'" James said, adding that he made sure to read Irving's full comments before reacting to them. "I wasn't like, 'Oh, you trippin'. I've hit game-winning shots my whole life.' I was not like that. I was like, 'Damn.' Because ... I played with Kyrie for three seasons [with the Cleveland Cavaliers]. The whole time when I was there, I only wanted to see him be a MVP of our league. I only cared about his success. And it just didn't align. It just didn't align. And we were able to win a championship. That's the craziest thing. We were still able to win a championship, and we could never align. But I only cared about his well-being, both on and off the floor.

"And it kind of hurt me a little bit."

Irving's comments were unavoidable as they occurred during the Finals.

"It's always been something that, when I've been in the Finals, that comes out to try to distract me from my mission. So I was already ready for it ... I've always been prepared to know that there's going to be something said or done to try to knock me off of my mission," James said. "When I was seeing that and I read it, and then I got the full transcript and I heard it, I was like, 'Man, f---.' I was like, 'Are you f---ing kidding me?' ... I was like, 'God damn.'"

James said he tried to shield Irving from scrutiny when they played together.

"Anytime the media would ask questions about Kyrie -- and we had multiple times when the media wanted to s--- on Kyrie -- I was the buffer," James said. "I was like, 'No, listen, you guys are tripping. This kid is young, he's great, he's going to learn, I'm here to help him learn, and I know what he's going to become.'

"And sometimes, you know, you put yourself out there, and you get hit in the mouth when you're not ready for it."