LeBron is preparing for this season with or without Kyrie and with the team the Cleveland Cavaliers have now they are still the favorites to come out of the east.
Everybody remembers that classic Game 5 in 2007 from LeBron James when he was able to beat the Detroit Pistons basically by himself. He ended up scoring 29 of the Cleveland Cavaliers’ last 30 points. LeBron knows he has the ability to get a lot done with little to work with so after the shock of Kyrie wanting to leave he got his mind right back to focusing on the upcoming season.
LeBron has more years left to play at this level, and with an 82 game season and seven straight years of deep playoff runs, LeBron has shown no signs of slowing down. The East has lost Paul George and Jimmy Butler. Now Kyrie wants to leave too. After Kyrie leaves and if he goes to the western conference that will mean two of the eastern conference starters from the All Star game this past season will be in the West (Jimmy Butler and Kyrie Irving).
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So who is left in the East? The Boston Celtics and the Toronto Raptors of course. With Boston having a big three in Al Horford, Isaiah Thomas and the recently added Gordon Hayward and Toronto having the All Stars Demar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry they look to be the teams to be able to take Cleveland off their pedestal. Although these teams look strong the mental advantage is still there for the Cavs against the east. They were undefeated, if you can remember, this past season in the postseason until they lost against the Celtics in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals. The Cavs had a 12-1 record against the East in the playoffs this past season and the Cavs will not sweat the Kyrie loss.
Making sure Kyrie doesn’t go to an Eastern Conference team is crucial because you don’t want to give him the opportunity to do to you what he has done to other teams so many times in the past. The Cavaliers know LeBron James is still the best player in the world and if they get a player that can match the talent of Kyrie in the trade then they will be able to just keep pushing along with LeBron James leading the way.
If Kyrie Irving doesn’t get traded this offseason and has to play on the team the Cavs can look to trade Kyrie during the season. An option that might be possible and would be extremely interesting would be a Kyrie for Russell Westbrook trade. Westbrook is eligible for a Designated Player Extension this year and if he doesn’t want to sign it he has a player option for 2018-19 that he could use to sign with another team. If the Thunder see that he won’t sign then he will be on the trading block and that could bring Kyrie to the Thunder. It would be unlikely because the deal makes Westbrook the highest paid player in NBA history and he has said he loves OKC but everything we have seen with Kyrie wanting to leave makes us believe anything is possible.
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The Cavaliers would have three MVPs on their team when you include the already signed Derrick Rose and they would be the most explosive team in the east. A Russell Westbrook and LeBron James tandem would be one to watch.