Late July is rarely the time for an NBA story to dominate the headlines of sports television, radio, and websites, but that’s what’s happened as a result of Kyrie Irving’s stunning decision to request a trade from the Cavaliers. Irving reportedly wants to be the star on his own team, feeling that he should no longer be Robin to LeBron James’ Batman.
Irving is a 25-year-old, four-time All-Star coming off of the best, most efficient offensive season of his career. In 2016-17, Irving scored 25.2 points on a 47.3/40.1/90.5 shooting split while also dishing out 5.8 assists per night. He is among the very best offensive players in the NBA — at any position — and his abilities as a ball-handler and shooter put him in the upper echelon of point guards in the league.
He has his faults, mostly on the defensive end of the floor, but by any metric his positive offensive impact outweighs his defensive deficiencies. And so, here is a star point guard entering the traditional prime years of his career who has two years left on his deal, which ought to bring Cleveland quite the return in a trade. However, to this point, the Cavaliers haven’t received much in the way of quality offers and, based off of Wednesday’s press conference, we could very well see this saga play out into the regular season.
Any time it leaks that a player has requested a trade it has a negative effect on that player’s trade value, as teams hope there’s some desperation to make a move. The Cavs know this, hence the statements made about expecting Irving to be in camp come September to keep up appearances that they will keep Irving around until they get a fair deal.
Unfortunately, beyond the normal diminished value that comes from a trade request being public knowledge, the Cavaliers have to try and follow two seemingly lopsided deals involving star players that some would argue are better players than Irving.
Paul George was traded by the Pacers to the Thunder after he informed them he would not re-sign in free agency in 2018. In return, Indiana got Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis, which isn’t great value for a perennial All-Star and a player capable of dragging a team to the playoffs. The Pacers were never acting from a point of power in George negotiations this summer and will take a swing that Oladipo can flourish back in the state of Indiana and Sabonis will be the perfect young complementary piece for Myles Turner.
Dan Gilbert and the Cavs were among the many that pushed for George in a trade, and on Wednesday the Cavs’ owner seemed less than thrilled that Indiana took that offer. For one, he felt his team had made a better offer, and, two, it set something of a precedent for what a star player’s value is on the market.
However, it’s pretty easy for the Cavs to point out the massive differences in Irving and George’s value. Mainly, Irving has two years left on his deal compared to the one left on George’s, and Irving — so long as you can provide the role he wants — appears more likely to listen to re-signing than George who has one eye on OKC and the other on the Lakers for next summer.
A bigger problem for the Cavaliers is what the Bulls did on draft night.
Jimmy Butler, like Kyrie Irving, is on a team-friendly (comparative to deals signed under the current CBA) deal that has two years remaining on it. Butler, like Irving, was coming off of a career year in Chicago where he did much of the heavy lifting to get the Bulls to the eighth seed in the East. The Bulls even had more leverage in negotiations than the Cavs, considering Butler went on record on multiple occasions to note that he’d be more than happy to stay in Chicago but would play wherever he goes.
Here was a star player on a good contract with multiple years remaining and the Bulls, well, they did what the Bulls do, which is get pennies on the dollar in a head-scratching move to send him to Minnesota for Zach LaVine, Kris Dunn, and a first-round pick swap in 2017 — netting them Lauri Markannen. If anyone deserves the ire of Gilbert and company in Cleveland, it’s GarPax a relatively short drive west in Chicago for shipping Butler off for far below what most would have considered fair value for a player of that caliber on that deal.
Now the Cavaliers are in the unenviable position of needing to deal Irving at some point this season.
It’s almost impossible to see a scenario where they can reconcile with Irving and keep him past the trade deadline, but they also have to hold out in hopes that a legitimate deal is out there. That may be the case and they’ll just have to wait awhile. Minnesota is apparently very interested in pairing Irving with Butler and Karl-Anthony Towns — Irving reportedly wanted to join Butler in Chicago — but to do so they’d likely need to include Jeff Teague in a deal and, being signed this summer, he can’t be moved until Dec. 15.
The Suns could be another destination, but they’ve reportedly promised Josh Jackson that he won’t be involved in a deal, and, while LeBron James likes Eric Bledsoe enough to workout with him this summer, it remains to be seen whether Phoenix can piece together an enticing enough package along with Bledsoe if they won’t include Jackson. The Celtics, naturally, have been rumored to have interest and have placed a call in to the Cavs, but nothing about the past three years of Boston’s negotiating in star trade discussions gives you any faith that they’ll come through with a reasonable package.
So, for now, Cleveland will have to keep answering the phones and play hardball in the hopes that a team on the other end of the line is offering a package that’s close to Irving’s value. If not, this fall figures to be very awkward in The Land.