Who really won Kyrie for IT trade?
Late Tuesday afternoon, the entire sports universe was shook. A few weeks after Kyrie Irving requested a trade out of Cleveland, he has finally gotten his wish. It had seemed as if talks and rumors have been quiet, but it was a few minutes before the trade actually happened that rumors were being spread about a possible deal to Boston. Only a few moments later the top two teams in the East swapped each other's All Star point guards for one another along with some more incentives being thrown in the deal to make it better for Cleveland. It was surprising to see teams that just faced off in the conference finals to make a trade of this significance, but is it possible that both teams benefited from this deal?
The Cavs got to trade away a disgruntled point guard looking for an opportunity to be "the guy." Irving is coming off a career year, but ended in disappointment when his team fell short in the NBA finals. It was an interesting move for Boston to send away their top player that brought the excitement back to TD Garden after seeing his eagerness to play with recently signed Gordon Hayward and to hopefully take the Celtics further than the previous season. The most questionable move may have been the Celtics throwing in the 2018 Nets unprotected 1st round pick. When the original rumors of possible Irving deals surfaced, it seemed as if Cleveland would be taking a step back in regards to the talent they would receive in return for their point guard. Instead, Cleveland may have won this deal by planning for now and later.
LeBron now has another All Star point guard who has very similar offensive and defensive skills, but a clear difference in height which has yet to slow IT down. Then they add a solid Three and D forward in Jae Crowder which will be critical if they plan to make a finals run. The Nets pick is almost guaranteed to be a top five pick unless D'Angelo Russell has a superstar season and pushes his team further down in the draft. The pick gives the Cavs a future if their franchises best player still does decide to leave which will be interesting now.
The Celtics, as mentioned may have just gotten a taller version of IT while giving away a valuable pick. Although trading Crowder might have hurt based on his team friendly contract and his impact on the team, the Celtics did have a slight over abundance of players on the wing which will now give opportunity to their future stars, Brown and Tatum. It is still possible Boston does repeat has having the best record in the conference, but Cleveland prepared themselves for a NBA finals run with this trade, not just to make the conference finals.
This article was written by Ian, one of the members of GSI Unbiased Opinions. Feel free to leave a comment.
