From the timeline and everything being reported, it just sounds like he was tired of being a pawn in LeBron's career saga and wanted to create a story of his own...To a guy with any kind of ego, after how he's performed in the last two finals (iconic title clincing 3, huge 40point games), to be dangled out there as trade-bait for pieces to placate LeBron and convince him to bless the franchise, city and his teammates with his continued presence instead of leaving them high and dry again with zero warning... Had to be the final slap in the face... The team didn't seem to value him as much more than a piece to be bargained away, and by implication via lack of "no way we trade kyrie, Bron would be pissed"-armour neither did LeBron... Not to say either party has some obligation to treat kyrie as a homegrown untouchable cornerstore of the team in the way that the dubbs treat Steph, but I can imagine why Kyrie thinks he's worth more as a player than to be just some random interchangeable stepping stone for LeBron to use in his strive for greatness as he goes galavanting from team to team trumping up his legacy