NBA Trade Grades: Cavaliers trade Kyrie Irving to Celtics for big haul

The Cleveland Cavaliers have agreed to send Kyrie Irving to the Boston Celtics for Isaiah Thomas and a large trade package. Here are NBA Trade Grades for both sides.

Just when the 2017 NBA offseason had finally reached a lull, Kyrie Irving‘s trade request from a few weeks back reared its head and ultimately came to its dramatic conclusion.

With the Cleveland Cavaliers‘ star point guard asking to be moved out of LeBron James‘ shadow, the franchise — coming off an NBA Finals defeat in its third straight trip to the championship series — had a big decision to make.

General manager Dan Gilbert was no longer around, LeBron was reportedly disgruntled over his GM’s departure and now the team’s star point guard wanted out. A trade for a rebuild package would’ve nudged King James closer to the door with his 2018 free agency looming, while a move for established talent might have left Cleveland with an aging, mediocre group if the Cavs fell short in the Finals again and LeBron bolted.

As such, new GM Koby Altman had to walk the line between acquiring star-caliber talent to help James compete now, and providing the Cavs with a fallback plan in case both Kyrie and LeBron were no longer on the roster in 2018.

In a deal with the Boston Celtics that was originally reported by The Vertical‘s Shams Charania before the details trickled in through ESPN‘s Adrian Wojnarowski, Dave McMenamin, Brian Windhorst and Jeff Goodman, the Cavaliers were able to accomplish that seemingly impossible task.

According to reports, the two sides have agreed on a deal that will send Kyrie to Beantown in exchange for Isaiah Thomas, Jae Crowder, Ante Zizic and the Celtics’ 2018 first round draft pick via the Brooklyn Nets.

With such a blockbuster deal breaking up the doldrums of August, it’s time for some NBA Trade Grades to examine how each side fared in this surprising move.

Cleveland Cavaliers

This is only one transaction, but if the Kyrie Irving trade is any indication about Koby Altman, the Cavaliers aren’t going to miss a beat as they move past the David Griffin era.

To be clear, even a handsome haul such as this does not ensure the Cavs will be able to convince LeBron to re-sign in free agency next summer. IT possesses many of the same strengths and weaknesses as Kyrie, except he’ll be an unrestricted free agent next summer as well.

Even if the transition from Irving to Thomas is seamless, it may not be enough to close the gap on the Golden State Warriors. After bringing Cleveland its first NBA championship, LeBron couldn’t be faulted by anyone for heading West to L.A. or assembling another super-team somewhere else if the Cavs fall short again this year.

However, this is about as good a haul as could be expected for a talented player who wanted out and wouldn’t commit long-term to any team that dealt for him. Thomas, who was the league’s third-leading scorer last season at 28.9 points per game on .463/.379/.909 shooting splits, replaces the scoring punch Irving provided.

Though he’s even more of a liability on the defensive end than Kyrie was, IT is a fan favorite for a reason. He’s only a slightly better facilitator than Irving, but will help ensure the Cavaliers don’t take a step backward from Golden State in what might be Cleveland’s last chance at a title run with LeBron.

If LeBron leaves, the Cavs can either throw tons of money at Thomas to remain competitive in the short-term, or they can let the then-29-year-old walk and free up ample cap space for the future.

One of the more overlooked aspects of the deal is the addition of Jae Crowder. Against the Warriors in the Finals, it was painfully obvious the Cavs needed someone to guard Kevin Durant and spare LeBron James the extra effort on that end of the floor. By the end of almost every game, King James looked completely gassed.

No one can stop KD, especially on this loaded Warriors squad, but having a guy like Crowder who’s capable of slowing him down saves LeBron from exerting all his energy and represents a massive upgrade over the other last resort wings Cleveland had to throw at Durant.

Crowder is not a go-to wing scorer by any means at 13.9 points per game last year, but he’s a reliable 3-point shooter, converting 39.8 percent of his long range attempts. He’ll benefit from the wide open looks that defenses are forced to surrender while worrying about LeBron, IT and Cleveland’s heavy 3-point onslaught in general.

Ante Zizic might not contribute much in 2017-18, but he’s a promising 20-year-old from Croatia who can play behind Kevin Love at the 4 and ultimately represent part of Cleveland’s rebuild in the scenario where LeBron leaves and the Cavs are forced to blow the roster up.

Finally, there’s the incredibly valuable Nets pick that was included — unprotected — in this swap. That alone might have made this trade a win for the Cavaliers, especially since the 2018 NBA Draft class is absolutely stacked in the top five.

If the Cavaliers are 100 percent devoted to keeping LeBron, they could also try to swing that valuable first-rounder for another proven talent to help close the gap on the Warriors. The money would be difficult to navigate, but even in a worst-case scenario where King James abdicates his throne, Cleveland still has a strong starting point to regroup around thanks to this pick.

There’s always an inherent risk with investing in young and unproven talent through the draft, but it’s also the best way to land franchise players for nearly a decade. If LeBron leaves, the Cavaliers have a decent chance at landing a possible successor, because even if the Nets slightly improve this season, they still could wind up handing over a top-five selection in the draft lottery.

Kyrie Irving is three years younger than IT, he’s locked in for at least one more season and losing him means the Cavs could be looking at a long-term rebuild a year from now. But this is an impressive haul for a guy who wanted to leave, and it’s one that ensures Cleveland remains competitive in the East for this season while also providing the foundation for a possible rebuild.

Grade: A

Boston Celtics

After all the superstar names that have come up over the last few months, giving up a Godfather package for Kyrie Irving has to feel a bit underwhelming for Boston Celtics fans.

Yes, Kyrie Irving is younger and probably better than Isaiah Thomas right now. Yes, he’s on a more team-friendly contract, he’s less of a defensive liability than IT and according to Woj, the Celtics made this move believing that he will re-sign with the team when he hits free agency in 2019:

However, even if the 25-year-old is ready to break out as “the guy” on a new team, the Celtics just had to surrender quite a hefty package to get him. There’s also no guarantee that Irving even reaches those new highs after playing zero defense and displaying very little leadership on a contending roster that was ideally tailored for his talents.

To be fair, a possible starting five of Kyrie Irving, Marcus Smart, Gordon Hayward, Marcus Morris and Al Horford sounds great on paper, especially with promising youngsters like Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, Terry Rozier and Guerschon Yabusele backing them up.

There’s also no question Kyrie is currently more valuable than IT. Even if you consider the two to be even across the board, Irving is younger and just put up 25.2 points, 5.8 assists and 3.2 rebounds per game on .473/.401/.905 shooting splits. He’s only going to get better, especially if he commits to the defensive end a bit more.

However, this team’s biggest weaknesses — defense and rebounding — were not addressed in the Gordon Hayward signing, the Kyrie Irving trade or at any point this offseason. They will still face those same problems in the playoffs, especially with Zizic and Crowder gone.

Trading IT makes sense since Danny Ainge didn’t want to invest $200 million in a 29-year-old point guard entering the 2017-18 season with a hip injury, but losing a fan favorite like that hurts, especially with one of the team’s best wing defenders and most positionally versatile players like Crowder leaving too.

Including the Nets’ pick, which could be an unprotected top-three pick, is just the final nail in the coffin. Would it have been better to make this trade for Kyrie and draft Jayson Tatum, or simply draft Markelle Fultz at No. 1, sign Hayward and keep Crowder, IT, Zizic and a likely top-five pick in next year’s draft class that’s supposedly loaded at the top?

Even better, they could have traded something similar for more years of a better player in Jimmy Butler, kept IT and signed Hayward.

That sounds a lot better than giving up one of the team’s most valuable future assets like the Brooklyn pick to trade for a younger version of IT…all while also losing considerable depth and experience this summer between Thomas, Crowder, Avery Bradley, Amir Johnson and Kelly Olynyk.

Only time will tell which group is more valuable, but if Kyrie Irving is unable to rise to the bell and prove himself as a legitimate franchise player in a way he couldn’t during his younger seasons with the Cavaliers, this trade could look extremely shortsighted a few years from now.

Here’s hoping this goes well and Boston advances to the Finals at some point in the next two years, because if it doesn’t, it could be a lot to surrender for a two-year rental.

The Celtics have a stacked starting five, plenty of future draft picks to fall back on and still retained most of their youth while avoiding overpaying for Thomas next summer. But it also cost them one of the best point guards in the league, an undervalued 3-and-D wing, a promising young power forward and a shot at a potential franchise player to pair with the team’s younger core.

Next: Top 5 free agency destinations for LeBron James in 2018

Kyrie Irving has quite a lot to prove bearing all this in mind, and though “NBA Finals or bust” isn’t quite fair given his youth, in the context of this trade, falling short to the Cavaliers in the 2018 Eastern Conference Finals would only make the loss of these departing pieces sting even more.

Grade: C-