Kyrie Irving wants to get out of LeBron James’ shadow.
One thing is certain. This NBA offseason has had plenty of drama to keep the interest of the die-hard and casual NBA fan alike. From Paul George and Chris Paul’s trade spectacles to the highly anticipated 2017 NBA draft. One filled with youth and promise and surrounded by trade rumors, some of which were just speculation and others that came to fruition. The theme of the offseason appeared to be for teams to do whatever they could to close the gap with Cleveland and Golden State.
For one player, that theme didn’t quite fit.
At a point when NBA news would traditionally go by the wayside for what was left of summer and give way to baseball and NFL training camp, the days of summer league ball which are obsolete in most NBA off-seasons became a spectacle with Lonzo Ball making his debut and the excitement around the star-studded rookie class. Oh, and one young star’s seemingly out-of-nowhere trade demands kept the NBA in the summer sports spotlight for good.
So where did things go wrong for Kyrie Irving? The 25-year old offensive-minded point guard whose career has flourished since the return of the King to Kyrie’s struggling Cavs. Prior to LeBron coming home, Irving was a promising young talent who struggled to stay healthy on a bottom-feeding NBA roster, but even still LeBron saw promise in Kyrie and it proved to be a huge reason why he even considered coming back to Cleveland. Without a roster that could be competitive immediately, LeBron likely would have stayed in Miami, but his desire to bring a title to Cleveland and his vision for what they could be made a return a reality. With a running mate like Irving, James saw potential.
The Cavs were fresh off drafting another young, can’t-miss talent in Andrew Wiggins with the number one pick, but LeBron wanted to come back to a team ready to compete. With that in mind, he helped them engineer a deal that sent Wiggins to Minnesota for the missing piece of his new “Big 3”, all-star power forward, Kevin Love. That core has now been to three straight NBA Finals and in 2016 brought their first trophy to Northeast Ohio after becoming the first team ever to come back from a 3-1 Finals deficit.
That team success apparently wasn’t enough for Kyrie. The offensive spark plug doesn’t want to be LeBron’s sidekick anymore. His demand to be traded and list of teams as ideal destinations show an unmatched level of immaturity in today’s NBA. At a time when superstars are doing everything they can to team up and compete for a title, Kyrie Irving wants a team he can call his own. The only thing comparable was when Stephon Marbury demanded a trade from Minnesota and his running mate Kevin Garnett, but the Wolves weren’t nearly as good as this Cavs team and you can argue that Kyrie is a more special talent. For Marbury, things were never as good in New Jersey.
It’s especially surprising when other star point guards in the league that are the face of their mediocre franchises such as John Wall of the Wizards and Damian Lillard of the Trail Blazers have come out and said they would stick by the King’s side and rather play for a championship than have personal recognition and glory. What’s even more surprising is that Irving considered voicing these demands following their NBA Championship victory a year ago. Come again?
To be fair, the Cavaliers hadn’t exactly made the most of this offseason to this point. Right before the draft, owner Dan Gilbert decided to let go their internally popular GM, David Griffin. This was in the midst of him working tirelessly to put packages together to bring in Paul George or Jimmy Butler, all-the-while battling cancer. It has been reported that a deal for George was actually agreed to in principle before Indiana backed out at the last second. Former Detroit Pistons star Chauncey Billups was on their radar as a replacement, but after a lowball offer from Gilbert, he decided against it.
Perhaps this internal turmoil played into the timing for Kyrie’s demands.
The Cavs have made modest free agent signings to follow the GM fallout, bringing in 36-year-old point guard Jose Calderon, veteran journeyman Jeff Green, young Turkish wing Cedi Osman, and the injury-prone former league MVP Derrick Rose amidst the Irving drama. They also finally inked Koby Altman to a five-year deal to take Griffin’s place as GM.
Altman faces a colossal challenge to begin his career as an NBA General Manager. As this offseason marches on, he has to figure out a way to get the Kyrie situation right. Not to mention he must keep LeBron happy in the process, otherwise, the risk of LeBron leaving Cleveland for the second time could become more than a possibility next year.
So what do the Cavs do from here? Never mind the unintended pun, but they have been very open in saying they would need “A King’s Ransom” in return for Kyrie. Only a package involving an established star, a young talent and draft picks would get the job done. So far at least 20 teams have reached out to Cleveland inquiring about Irving, but none of those calls ended with a deal.
The Cavaliers must maintain their leverage in this situation and remember that Kyrie doesn’t share that same position as he is still under contract. They should be looking at this ending one of two ways. The first is by completing a trade. In that scenario, the Cavs should not feel any pressure to budge on their expectations. There have been few packages realistically talked about that would allow them to still compete for a championship now without sacrificing their future in the process.
The second scenario would be to keep Kyrie against his wishes. Irving is still under contract at a reasonable $18 million for two more years with a third-year player option. The risk you run here is affecting team chemistry. This is a legitimate concern, but at the athlete’s core is the desire to compete and this may not be a terrible alternative if the right deal isn’t presented.
So is that deal out there? Let’s explore.
A package involving the Suns’ veteran point guard Eric Bledsoe and 6’9” rookie wing Josh Jackson along with a draft pick may be the most intriguing that has come up. Unfortunately for the Cavs, Phoenix is reluctant to include their most recent lottery pick in any deal, which is likely the catalyst to it getting done. There are suggestions that last year’s lottery pick, Dragan Bender, may be a more realistic replacement for Jackson in a deal. If the Suns do budge on Jackson, Kyrie may very well be wearing purple and orange next year only to watch his former team complete from his couch come the post-season.
There are very few other legitimate alternatives that have been presented. Neither Miami nor New York seems to have a package that would provide a substantial return for Cleveland and trading Irving to one of his desired destinations just to make him happy seems unlikely.
Detroit may be an interesting option if they are willing to part with a package involving Avery Bradley and Tobias Harris or Andre Drummond. They would need two of those three along with draft picks for it to get done. Bradley or Harris may provide the defensive-minded spell they need for LeBron and Drummond, at only 24 years old, may be the best true center in the league.
Sacramento could put together a package involving rookie De’Aaron Fox, but it’s unclear what else they would include to entice Cleveland. Denver has an interesting group of young talent with guards Jamal Murray, Gary Harris, and Emmanuel Mudiay along with veteran forward Kenneth Faried, but it remains to be seen what, if any, combination of those players they would be willing to part with.
In any scenario, there is a real possibility that the Cavs can get better as a result of this seemingly unfortunate situation, which is something few people have talked about. If they stick to what they initially said they need in return for Kyrie they can vastly improve defensively, where Kyrie was somewhat of a liability, while also adding youth and athleticism to an aging roster.
It also seems possible based on the amount of time that has passed without a deal that the Cavs’ front office is content to get through the summer as-is, but don’t let that fool you. This franchise’s chips are all-in on keeping their Akron-born King happy and if the right deal is presented to them and LeBron signs off on it, it will happen. It’s hard to believe James has taken kindly to Kyrie’s multiple posts on social media taking not-so-subtle shots at him, despite James coming out and dismissing reports by Stephen A. Smith that LeBron wants to fight Irving. At the very least, we know LeBron was surprised by the trade request and feels betrayed.
If they do end up pulling the trigger and making a trade, Kyrie Irving might look back at this offseason in a few years and wonder where it all went wrong. If that proves true, this could go down as the ultimate “be careful what you wish for, you just might get it” scenario.
