We are seven days into the Kyrie Irving saga, after news broke last Friday that the star point guard had requested a trade from the Cavaliers. Since then, we’ve heard rumors about teams that want to get involved in trade talks (ranging from “serious” interest from Minnesota to Boston making an “obligatory” call), the Cavs signed Derrick Rose, LeBron James denied reports he’s angry with Irving, and the GM and owner insisted everything in Cleveland is fine and Kyrie is expected to be at camp.
That’s the abridged version of what has been the most interesting late July NBA storyline in years, and it only seems to get stranger by the day. The latest nugget of reported news floating out there is that Irving has gone radio silent on the Cavaliers.
That comes from The Athletic’s Jason Lloyd, who made note of the Cavs’ inability to get a hold of Irving in his latest column on the situation and comparing it to the summer of 2010 when LeBron James left for Miami.
[James] was unreachable during the summer of 2010, something Irving is now. The Cavs have unsuccessfully tried to contact Irving, multiple sources with knowledge of the situation told The Athletic, but he is not talking to anyone from the organization.
That’s not a great sign that the relationship between the organization and Irving can be repaired, if anyone still thought that was a possibility, but, while surprising, it’s not really all that important for Cleveland to talk with Irving right now. He doesn’t have a no-trade clause in his contract, meaning the Cavs don’t need him to sign off on a deal, and he already gave them his list of preferred destinations, which they can use or ignore as they choose.
Koby Altman’s job now as the Cavs’ new general manager is to find the best possible package for Irving and move him when that arrives. That could be in a week or it could be at the trade deadline, but a deal must get done this season. The biggest reason the reported inability of the Cavs to reach Irving is of note is that there is a very real chance this thing drags on into the season and if he’s not speaking to anyone it could make for some very awkward days and nights at the facility during camp.
This also could just be a case where Irving has decided to enjoy some vacation time — he just got back from a tour of Asia — and doesn’t want to talk to anyone about work stuff, and once he’s ready to return to basketball mode, he’ll have some conversations with the Cavs if he’s still on the team.
