{"id":80088,"date":"2024-06-03T14:03:20","date_gmt":"2024-06-03T18:03:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=80088"},"modified":"2024-06-03T14:03:20","modified_gmt":"2024-06-03T18:03:20","slug":"kyrie-irving-trade-that-almost-never-happened","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/06\/03\/kyrie-irving-trade-that-almost-never-happened\/","title":{"rendered":"The Kyrie Irving Trade That Almost Never Happened"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Kyrie Irving<\/a> decided to request a trade<\/a> from the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Boston Celtics weren\u2019t even on his mind.<\/p>\n

In fact, that\u2019s a poor choice of words. He didn\u2019t want to play for the Celtics at all.<\/p>\n

The Kyrie Irving Trade That Almost Never Happened<\/h2>\n

When Irving asked to moved, his \u201cthen-agent, Jeffrey Wechsler, informed (Cavs owner Dan Gilbert) that his client preferred to be dealt<\/a> to either the (San Antonio) Spurs, (New York) Knicks, (Minnesota) Timberwolves or (Miami) Heat, with the list intentionally excluding the Celtics\u2026,\u201d per Yahoo Sports insider Jake Fischer.<\/p>\n

Yet, Wechsler failed to follow his client\u2019s instructions. Indeed, \u201c\u2026once Wechsler secured permission from Gilbert to contact opposing teams\u2026 he and then-Celtics president Danny Ainge engaged in frequent dialogue about Irving\u2019s trade market.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gilbert, decided he didn\u2019t care about Irving\u2019s preference either. \u201cCleveland\u2019s front office valued the 2018 (Brooklyn) Nets draft pick that Boston held\u2026 as a top-five pick in that upcoming draft…,\u201d per Fischer.<\/p>\n

As it turns out, the first round pick that the Cavs received from the Celtics did turn out to be a lottery pick. However, it wasn\u2019t a top-five selection. With the No. 8 <\/em>pick in the 2018 NBA Draft, Cleveland selected Alabama\u2019s Collin Sexton<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Sexton was an explosive scorer who had made a name for himself through high school and college. However, his lack of playmaking instincts doomed him. In 2022, he was traded just a year after averaging a career-high 24.3 points per game. As the Cavs landed a multi-time All-Star in Donovan Mitchell<\/a>, there\u2019s a line of thought that it all worked out for Cleveland. Yet, the Cavs didn\u2019t just trade Sexton for Mitchell. Cleveland\u2019s also sent Lauri Markkanen<\/a> and five first-round picks to the Utah Jazz.<\/p>\n

Put in perspective, it\u2019s clear why the Cavs are so keen to hold onto Mitchell. He\u2019s played great in Cleveland, having back-to-back career seasons. He helped them win a playoff series without LeBron James<\/a> for the first time in 31 years.<\/p>\n

Yet, they also gave up so much to get him that they want<\/em> to see work. In that same vein, they\u2019re unlikely to get the assets they\u2019d want in trade return for Mitchell. Just break even, they\u2019d have to receive five first-round picks, an All-Star-caliber player, and a high-end starter.<\/p>\n

The Kyrie Irving Trade That Didn\u2019t Happen<\/h3>\n

Had the Cavs traded Irving to the Knicks, who had the No. 9 pick, Sexton could have still landed in Cleveland. The Brooklyn Nets had both D\u2019Angelo Russell<\/a> and Caris LeVert<\/a>, so they didn\u2019t necessarily need a backcourt player. If they were willing to wait, they may have even gotten New York\u2019s No. 3 pick in the 2019 NBA Draft. With two top-five picks, they may have positioned themselves to draft Murray State product Ja Morant<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Those hypotheticals aside, Irving was almost traded to the Knicks anyways. However, instead of Cleveland making the deal, it would\u2019ve been Boston.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Celtics once dreamed of pairing Irving with Anthony Davis,\u201d per Fischer. \u201cBut\u2026 when New York\u2019s front office began to quietly pursue deals to move on from (Kristaps) Porzi\u0146\u0123is, the Celtics and Knicks even held tangible dialogue about swapping Irving for the 7-2 sharpshooter\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Had the Celtics and Knicks agreed to this deal, Brunsonmania may have never happened. Jalen Brunson<\/a> is so talented and determined that he could\u2019ve had a star turn with the Dallas Mavericks or elsewhere. Yet, few franchises have a hype machine like their market and fan base. This has been as important to Brunson\u2019s breakout as his own ability.<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, the Knicks would\u2019ve become a playoff team a little earlier. With a core that\u2019s not too dissimilar to the one they currently have, New York\u2019s Cinderella story could\u2019ve began in 2019. Irving and Julius Randle<\/a> would\u2019ve been an elite 1-2 punch. Interestingly, it\u2019s unlikely RJ Barrett<\/a> would\u2019ve been drafted by New York. Their record likely would\u2019ve been too good for a top-three pick. However, a prospect with a similar skillset but more dogged defense \u2014Kentucky product Keldon Johnson<\/a> \u2014was available until pick No. 29.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When Kyrie Irving decided to request a trade from the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Boston Celtics weren\u2019t even on his mind. In fact, that\u2019s a poor choice of words. He didn\u2019t want to play for the Celtics at all. The Kyrie Irving Trade That Almost Never Happened When Irving asked to moved, his \u201cthen-agent, Jeffrey Wechsler, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":80104,"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":[62,1608,5,9,30,12,4721],"tags":[1594,1949,900,1417,406,4774,1382],"class_list":["post-80088","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba","category-basketball","category-celtics","category-cavaliers","category-mavericks","category-knicks","category-trade-rumors","tag-collin-sexton","tag-dan-gilbert","tag-donovan-mitchell","tag-jalen-brunson","tag-kyrie-irving","tag-rumors","tag-nba-trade"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80088","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=80088"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80088\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/80104"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80088"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80088"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80088"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}