The 2016 Cleveland Cavaliers reunion was supposed to be a celebration. For one member of that championship team, it turned into a reminder of how quickly a brotherhood can leave someone off the group text.
Timofey Mozgov, a center on that title team, says he never got an invite to the squad’s 10-year reunion — a multi-country European trip hosted by LeBron James that ran through London and Scotland for golf and sightseeing. Asked by Russian outlet Sport Express whether anyone had reached out, Mozgov made clear the answer was no.
“Yes, I saw the video of that party. No one wrote or called me,” Mozgov said, per a translation from EuroHoops. “If I’d been invited, I’d have gladly joined. Of course, I’d have loved to be there too, to drink some wine.”
A title-team staple left off the list
The trip brought together a who’s who of the franchise’s defining group: James, Kevin Love, J.R. Smith, Richard Jefferson, Channing Frye and Tristan Thompson, with Iman Shumpert and Matthew Dellavedova joining later. Mozgov’s absence stands out because he was no bit player. The 7-foot-1 Russian started much of the 2015-16 season before his role shrank in the postseason, and he appeared in 13 games during the championship run.
He was also part of history, becoming one of the first Russian players to win an NBA title.
The Kyrie contrast
Mozgov wasn’t the only notable name missing, but his situation differed from the one that drew the most attention. Smith said on social media that Kyrie Irving had been invited and “ghosted” the group, and Irving later waved off any drama by posting an appreciation graphic featuring the full championship roster. Irving, in other words, got the call and passed. Mozgov says the call never came.
There’s no public explanation for the oversight, and it may be nothing more than a forgotten text among a dozen-plus former teammates scattered across the globe. Mozgov, now 39 and long retired after the four-year, $64 million Lakers contract he signed that same summer, didn’t frame it as a grudge so much as a missed glass of wine.
Why it stings a little extra
The timing is its own subplot. The reunion is unfolding while LeBron James’ free agency keeps Cleveland in the offseason headlines and the franchise’s 2016 nostalgia runs hot. For a fan base dreaming about one more chapter with James, a snapshot of the old band back together — minus a center who helped win the only title in team history — is a bittersweet throwback. Mozgov would’ve happily raised a glass. Next time, somebody should send the text.
