Last month, Kyrie Irving announced his desire to be traded away from the Cleveland Cavaliers this offseason. Since then, there has been much discussion over his future with the team and in the NBA.

Many believe the reason why he wants a trade away from the Eastern Conference side is so that he can become the focal point of another team in the NBA, rather than remaining at the Cavaliers and playing in the shadow of LeBron James.

It wasn't always supposed to be this way for Cleveland, as Irving was supposed to be the leader of the team when he signed his initial contract extension in 2014, but that changed mere days later when James decided to return home after a spell at the Miami Heat.

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However, many have questioned the 25-year-old's desire to win following the trade request, as he would be leaving a team that has been to the NBA Finals for the past three seasons in order to chase his own personal glory.

Charles Barkley is certainly one of those former players that thinks Irving is making the wrong decision in searching for a trade away from the Cavaliers because he stands by the statement that the objective of playing in the NBA is to win, rather than own personal achievements.

The NBA legend said during an interview on NBA TV: "You want to be on a good team. You want to play with other great players. This notion where you want to be the man, I just think is so stupid. If I got a chance to play with another great player, I want to do that. The objective is to win.

"When he was on a bad team and he was the man, I guarantee you that wasn't a lot of fun for him. And now you want to leave the best player in the world. And listen, I hear all of this stuff about how LeBron casts a big shadow. He should cast a big shadow. I'm pretty sure everybody that played with Michael Jordan or Larry Bird or Shaq ... it's a big thing. If you get a chance to play with great players, that's half the battle.

"You wanna share the glory. You wanna win. Right now, there's only two, three, maybe four legitimate teams in the NBA. If you're not on one of those four or five teams, you're really just wasting your time for like seven months. So I don't understand why you wouldn't want to play with LeBron. Listen, I wanna play with LeBron now."

Barkley's opinion is unlikely to change Irving's mind as he is pretty set on leaving the Cavaliers this summer. He does make a valid point, but it might not be one which everyone agrees with.