Why the Cavaliers need to keep Kyrie Irving
By Bill Picha
Kyrie Irving wants to be traded. The Cavaliers shouldn’t give in to his request.
Three consecutive Eastern Conference championships and one NBA title is what the combination of LeBron James and Kyrie Irving has yielded.
For months, you’ve heard whispers of potential trades involving Irving. You’ve seen subtweets and snapchats that seemingly indicate animosity. However, none of that matters.
Kyrie Irving signed a contract in 2015 that made him a Cavalier until 2020. The Cleveland front office has all the power in this situation. Their worst case scenario is doing nothing and riding this thing out.
Cleveland shouldn’t be afraid of failing to find a trade partner. He’s still going to be an elite scorer that makes the Cavaliers one of the best offensive teams in the league.
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His value will never be higher than it is now. He’s 25 years old and under contract for the next three seasons. Trading a star player who isn’t a rental is worthy of a high-asking price.
Here’s the thing, the trade market has become scarce.
With big names like Butler and George off the trading block, Cleveland is not left with many options.
The obvious option would be Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony. He has a well-documented friendship with LeBron James and, more importantly, would be a good match up position-wise if the Cavs were to face Golden State in The Finals.
However, according to the New York Post, Anthony is unwillingly to waive his no-trade clause for Cleveland. That eliminates New York as a potential trade partner, so what other choices are there?
The Phoenix Suns have an array of young talent that could interest Cleveland, but they seem hesitant on trading some of it away. The following is an excerpt from an article written by Joe Vardon on Cleveland.com:
"Among the scenarios under consideration, LeBron James worked out with a number of stars in Las Vegas this past week, among them Eric Bledsoe, the Phoenix Suns guard who’s been linked to numerous rumors as a possible target in a trade for Irving.Cleveland also wants Josh Jackson, a 6-8 rookie drafted fourth overall by the Suns in June. Phoenix reportedly doesn’t want to trade Jackson, and a source said the Suns told Devin Booker he would not be traded — which would seem to put a serious hamper in this potential trade."
If the Cavs aren’t going to settle, which they shouldn’t, then that rules out the Suns as well.
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Cleveland has time to find an offer that meets their desires, but are they going to get it? Maybe not. And that’s ok. Because at the end of the day, they’re pretty (dang) good.