Kyrie Irving surprised many in the NBA world on Friday when it was reported that he asked for a trade from a Cleveland Cavaliers team that’s made the NBA Finals the previous three seasons. But on Saturday it was reported that trading Irving away wasn’t completely off the table for the Cavs before Irving’s big ask.
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski wrote a column about the move arguing that LeBron James has created an atmosphere in the league for players to make moves like this with their own interests in mind. Hidden in the piece is a nugget about how the Cavaliers actually looked into moving Irving to acquire another big name before the NBA Draft.
The Cavaliers have a singular tradeable asset, and it’s Kyrie Irving. Which he knows because Cleveland had included him in trade talks around the NBA draft, league sources told ESPN. Long before Irving voiced his desire to be moved, Cleveland had considered the possibility, too — and perhaps did so with a nod from James.
That sounds like the Cavs were not nearly as blindsided by the request for a trade as LeBron was when he found out about it. But, of course, there’s another side to this. As ESPN’s Brian Windhorst points out, the Cavaliers may have been more aggressive about trading Irving if they knew he wanted that kind of thing, which would have led to a very different summer for the entire NBA.
Windy: If Kyrie had told the Cavs this in mid-June, they probably could have traded for Chris Paul and traded Kevin Love for Paul George.
— ESPN Cleveland (@ESPNCleveland) July 21, 2017
A Cavaliers team with Chris Paul or Paul George on it is a very different situation for LeBron and the Cavs to deal with. Paul would have given them a long-term option in keeping James in town, and George may have a different stance on an extension, though that seems like more of a stretch.
The point is that things could have been different for everyone involved, which is interesting, but it doesn’t change anything now. It’s just becoming more clear that Irving getting traded was much more likely to happen than anyone realized until Friday.
(Via ESPN)
