In what was arguably as the most shocking turn of the offseason, the Cleveland Cavaliers appear set to move on from Kyrie Irving after the guard requested a trade away from LeBron James earlier this month. Irving, an All-Star and one of the league’s best scorers, has two years left on his deal.
He reportedly has a list of four desired destinations – the Knicks, Heat, Spurs and Timberwolves – that he gave to the Cavaliers. It’ll be tough for any team to swing a deal for Irving, but as we saw with the recent trades of stars Jimmy Butler and Paul George, when the player wants out and the market cools, teams get desperate.
ESPN’s Brian Windhorst joined The Audible on 1050 Wednesday morning to discuss how the Cavaliers could play the Irving situation. Windhorst said the two years remaining on Irving’s deal, in conjunction with the now-publicized list he gave to Cleveland, could make it difficult for a team like Phoenix to have confidence in making a deal for the 25-year-old.
“I think the Suns have the best package they can offer,” Windhorst said. “They can offer a guy like Eric Bledsoe, who is a quality player who can help the Cavs compete against the Warriors tomorrow. And they can also offer first round picks or young players, a guy like Josh Jackson, who they just drafted. That is a very intriguing package that could be offered. However, the Suns have to realize, in the next two years, they are not winning the Western Conference. So if Kyrie is saying, ‘I’m going to be a two-year rental,’ how can the Suns make that offer? Can they take that gamble? That makes it harder.”
A team like the Minnesota Timberwolves, on the other hand, has Windhorst interested simply because of the talent they could amass by acquiring Irving. The fact that the Wolves are on Irving’s list doesn’t hurt, either. Adding Irving to Karl Anthony-Towns and Jimmy Butler, Windhorst said, would make them a top team in the West for at least the next two seasons. The price to get Irving would likely be steep for Minnesota though.
“The thing is you’d need Andrew Wiggins to do the deal, and the Wolves weren’t willing to trade Andrew Wiggins for Jimmy Butler, who in my mind, is a better player than Kyrie Irving,” Windhorst said. “If the Wolves weren’t willing to trade Andrew Wiggins for Butler, I don’t see why they would trade him for Kyrie, although the idea of getting those three guys together has got to be something they’re going to consider.”
At the end of the day, the Cavs are likely going to command a king’s ransom for Irving, and depending on the haul they receive they could drastically change the perception of their offseason thus far. It’s been largely marred by front office chaos and a lack of new contributors, but the recent Derrick Rose signing had Windhorst giving some praise to Cleveland’s free agency period. Windhorst said that all things considered, the Cavs have been “decent” in free agency in acquiring both Rose and Jeff Green thus far.
The full interview with Windhorst is available below. To listen to his comments on specific landing spots for Kyrie Irving, skip to the 7:15 mark.
