CLEVELAND — Kyrie Irving threatened last season to sit out and have knee surgery if he was not traded from the Cleveland Cavaliers, according to a report from Advance Media Ohio.

Irving’s desire and request to leave the Cavs last summer has been well documented.

Wanting to leave LeBron James’ shadow and the culture James dominated in Cleveland, upset that former general manager David Griffin was gone and miffed that the Cavs considered trading him to Indiana for Paul George, Irving asked the owner, Dan Gilbert, to trade him.

Gilbert didn’t have to honor the request because Irving had two years left on his contract. But according to multiple sources, Irving threatened to sit out the season and have surgery on his knee, convincing Gilbert and Cleveland’s front office the relationship was not salvageable.

Irving’s agent, Jeff Wechsler, declined to discuss what was said to the Cavs with cleveland.com, and Gilbert didn’t personally respond to a request seeking comment.

The Cavs don’t regret trading Irving (because he didn’t want to be there) nor do they regret trading him to Boston, and are otherwise refusing to address the past as they try to maximize this season and the future, they said.

According to sources, Irving needs minor knee surgery as a follow to the procedure he underwent during the 2015 finals to repair his broken kneecap. It’s not pressing – Irving is averaging 24.5 points and shooting a career-high .477 from the field – but the procedure would ease some of the swelling and day-to-day pain he feels.

Such a procedure is typically done in the offseason, but he threatened to not come to training camp (first reported by ESPN) and then have the procedure during the season, leaving the Cavs without a point guard.

The Cavs chose to move Irving rather than call his bluff, which upset James, sources said. Irving has millions of dollars in endorsements, including with Nike, and missing the year may have impeded one of his career goals of growing his brand.

TAKING ADVANTAGE of mismatches Wednesday, the Celtics clearly tried to get Jayson Tatum rolling against Milos Teodosic in Wednesday night’s 113-102 win over the Los Angeles Clippers.

After scoring in single digits in back-to-back games for the first time, Tatum bounced back with 18 points on a career-high 16 shots.

“Way better, I thought, than in the last couple of games,” Stevens said. “Was very assertive. I thought we did a good job as a team of helping him find opportunities.”

There was no obvious matchup for Teodosic, an excellent passer who can’t always lock down defensively. Not wanting to put him on Irving, the Clippers decided to assign Teodosic to the 6-foor-8 Tatum instead. That didn’t always work out well.

“That’s what we try to do, take advantage of different matchups that we feel are to our advantage,” Tatum said. “I know I haven’t been playing that well the last couple games. I was trying to be better, contribute more.”

“Just specific defenders out there you want to attack,” added Irving, who led the Celtics with 20 points.

THE CLIPPERS are scheduled to be in Boston on Feb. 14, but, at least personally, Doc Rivers is hoping to beat that date. He’s hoping to make it to Boston a few days earlier for the retirement of Paul Pierce’s No. 34.

“We’re looking at it,” said the former Celtics coach and current Clippers leader. “We’re going to try to do it if we can. It looks like it will be possible.”

The itinerary does break right for the Clippers, so there’s a better-than-average chance you’ll see Doc among the Pierce revelers.

“Oh, it’s important for me,” Rivers said.

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