Kyrie Irving wants out of Cleveland and the New York Knicks could be among a handful of teams in the running for the All-Star point guard.
The news broke without warning Friday afternoon that All-Star point guard Kyrie Irving wants out from under LeBron James‘ shadow with the Cleveland Cavaliers. Irving reportedly asked Cavaliers management for a trade over a week ago and the story was leaked via ESPN‘s Brian Windhorst.
According to Windhorst, the request came last week and was made to Cavs owner Dan Gilbert personally. The news came as such a shock that it’s rumored LeBron James was “blindsided” by the news. The 25-year-old point guard is tired of playing second fiddle to James and is actively seeking a fresh start with the opportunity to lead a team moving forward.
The teams that Irving is reportedly interested in joining are the Miami Heat, San Antonio Spurs, Minnesota Timberwolves and the New York Knicks. The ESPN source indicated that the Knicks, regardless of all their issues recently, are very much in play for Irving’s services. Irving attended Duke University for one season before turning pro is also a native of West Orange, New Jersey.
The Cavaliers are reportedly considering a three-team trade that would send Irving to the Knicks in exchange for Carmelo Anthony. An ESPN report from Ian Begley suggested the Knicks would also send future first-rounders to Cleveland in order to get rid of Anthony and get Irving.
Knicks would consider trading Carmelo Anthony and future first rounders for Kyrie Irving. More: https://t.co/MqjITNd7rR
— Ian Begley (@IanBegley) July 21, 2017
The deal would make immediate sense for both teams, especially since Anthony is still heavily desired in Cleveland. Irving is still young with plenty to prove in the league and aligning himself with Kristaps Porzingis long-term could bring the excitement back to Madison Square Garden. In 72 games last season, Irving averaged 25.2 points per game to go along with 5.8 assists, easily placing him amongst the game’s elite point guards.
A backcourt tandem of Tim Hardaway Jr. and Irving will force the Knicks to play a more up-tempo pace. This style more than accommodates the preference of head coach Jeff Hornacek, who ran a similar offense during his tenure with the Phoenix Suns. Knicks fans can easily get accustomed to seeing nightly fast breaks with Irving pushing the basketball to either Porzingis, Hardaway Jr. or rookie Damyean Dotson.
The negative knock on Irving would be his lapses on defense, especially against the many premier point guards in the league. In the 2017 NBA Finals, Stephen Curry averaged 26.8 points per game while dishing out 9.4 assists during the Warriors’ five-game series victory. As much of a liability as he is defensively, Irving is still too good offensively to ignore, especially with a Knicks team currently slated to have either Ron Baker or first round draft pick Frank Ntilikina starting at point guard.
As much of a surprise it is to hear about Irving’s desire to go elsewhere it was slightly hinted by his odd response to the team’s plans recently during an interview with Sports Illustrated.
"“I understand we’re in a very peculiar place, We just have to, you know, make sure that all our pieces are aligned first, and then we go from there. It’s the summertime, a lot of craziness going on in the NBA. Best to just observe and then see what happens, but obviously there are some things that I’m pretty sure our organization wants to do, and we’ll go from there.”"
Next: 5 teams that should make a trade offer for Kyrie Irving
The news of Irving possibly making New York his new home may be exciting, but there is still plenty of work to be done to get a legit deal done. Brand new Knicks general manager Scott Perry should be ready for a long weekend of phone calls as New York fans are waiting on a big announcement…hopefully.