{"id":80080,"date":"2024-06-03T12:28:14","date_gmt":"2024-06-03T16:28:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=80080"},"modified":"2024-06-03T14:04:31","modified_gmt":"2024-06-03T18:04:31","slug":"cavs-real-reason-kyrie-irving-requested-trade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/06\/03\/cavs-real-reason-kyrie-irving-requested-trade\/","title":{"rendered":"The Real Reason Kyrie Irving Requested Cavs Trade"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Kyrie Irving<\/a>\u2019s request to be traded from the Cleveland Cavaliers became public, it drew no shortage of side-eyes.<\/p>\n

Irving, drafted first overall by the Cavs in 2011, had finally started having postseason success. LeBron James<\/a>\u2019s decision to return to Cleveland is the main reason why the Cavs were able to notch three straight NBA Finals berths before Irving was traded. However, while the team was being carried, Irving had also played so well that he was doing a lot of the heavy lifting himself.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s perhaps no better example of this than the 2016 NBA Finals. The Cavs made a miraculous 3-1 comeback to defeat the Golden State Warriors; the first in NBA history. James won his third Finals MVP trophy after averaging 29.7 points, 11.3 rebounds, 8.9 assists, 2.6 steals, and 2.3 blocks per game. Irving recorded 27.1 points and 2.1 steals per game on .468-.405-.939 shooting splits. Given that 3-point specialists like J.R. Smith<\/a> (35.6 percent), Kevin Love<\/a> (26.3 percent), and Richard Jefferson<\/a> (16.7 percent) were struggling, Irving\u2019s consistent contributions were that much more important.<\/p>\n

So, if placed on the pedestal of a perennial championship contender, why would he leave?<\/p>\n

The Real Reason Kyrie Irving Requested Cavs Trade<\/h2>\n

The Cavs\u2019 2016-17 season wasn\u2019t as successful as the previous campaign. Cleveland lost six more games largely due to Smith\u2019s subpar performance. Though they made it back to the NBA Finals, they were beaten soundly by a Warriors squad that had added former MVP, Kevin Durant<\/a>. If looking at their on-court production, perhaps Irving lost a bit of faith in the Cavs.<\/p>\n

But enough to ask for a trade?<\/p>\n

Between Irving\u2019s obvious displeasure with how Cleveland\u2019s media painted the relationship between him and James, and the Cavs\u2019 decline, there might have been enough reason for him to window shop. However, it\u2019s even deeper than that. Irving \u201cconsidered the Cavaliers to be in flux<\/a>,\u201d per Yahoo Sports insider Jake Fischer.<\/p>\n

\u201cCleveland was in conversation with former Pistons guard Chauncey Billups to become its next general manager after Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert and lead executive David Griffin couldn\u2019t agree to terms on a new contract. Irving and his representation were already hearing credible rumblings around Cleveland and James\u2019 camp that the four-time MVP was eyeing Los Angeles in free agency following that 2017-18 campaign as well. Plus, the (Boston) Celtics had draft capital and ready-made veteran players to send the Cavs in return for Irving.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

All in all, Irving had a good reason to ask for a trade.<\/p>\n

Griffin left Cleveland before he did, taking an offer<\/a> from the New Orleans Pelicans to become their executive vice president. James did indeed head to the Los Angeles Lakers in the summer of 2018. Irving\u2019s departure likely made that decision easier, but James was also a fan of Griffin\u2019s moves as general manager.<\/p>\n

Oh, What Could Have Been<\/h3>\n

Frankly, Irving\u2019s request is still seen as a misstep by a young player a bit too eager to spread his wings.<\/p>\n

Had he stayed with the Cavs for at least another season, perhaps he and James would\u2019ve grown closer. The national media likely would\u2019ve continued to lionize him rather than villainize him. His untimely injuries and controversial opinions may still have led to a flood of criticism. Yet, if was able to put less strain on his body playing alongside James, he\u2019d have a better chance to stay healthy. Had he found a mentor in a veteran-laden locker room, his curiosity may have led to less incendiary comments.<\/p>\n

The world will never know what could have been. All that can be said is that, until this season, Irving\u2019s post-Cavs journey was not going well<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When Kyrie Irving\u2019s request to be traded from the Cleveland Cavaliers became public, it drew no shortage of side-eyes. Irving, drafted first overall by the Cavs in 2011, had finally started having postseason success. LeBron James\u2019s decision to return to Cleveland is the main reason why the Cavs were able to notch three straight NBA […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":80085,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9,1608,5,30,62,33,3],"tags":[406,38,4774,1382],"class_list":["post-80080","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cavaliers","category-basketball","category-celtics","category-mavericks","category-nba","category-pelicans","category-news","tag-kyrie-irving","tag-lebron-james","tag-rumors","tag-nba-trade"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80080","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5008"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80080"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80080\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/80085"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80080"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80080"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80080"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}