King James Gospel
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Ranking the 12 worst trades in Cleveland Cavaliers history

By Josh Cornelissen

James Worthy#42, Small Forward and Power Forward for the Los Angeles Lakers during the NBA Pacific Division basketball game against the Los Angeles Clippers on 15th February 1994 at the Great Western Forum arena in Inglewood, Los Angeles, California, United States. The Los Angeles Clippers won the game 100 - 89. (Photo by J.D. Cuban/Allsport/Getty Images)
James Worthy#42, Small Forward and Power Forward for the Los Angeles Lakers during the NBA Pacific Division basketball game against the Los Angeles Clippers on 15th February 1994 at the Great Western Forum arena in Inglewood, Los Angeles, California, United States. The Los Angeles Clippers won the game 100 - 89. (Photo by J.D. Cuban/Allsport/Getty Images) /
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Worst Trade No. 8: Flunking the return for Kyrie Irving

For whatever Cavaliers fans ultimately think of Kyrie Irving (and he continues to write his story in Comic Sans type) he was a part of the most successful team in franchise history. He and LeBron James pulled off the greatest comeback in basketball history and brought an NBA Championship to the Land. The following season the Cavs had the most talented team in franchise history, even if they fell in five games to the buzz saw that was the Warriors with Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry.

That following offseason, however, Kyrie Irving’s mercurial nature finally reared its head, and he demanded a trade, threatening to get knee surgery and miss the season if his demands weren’t met. The Cavs suddenly found themselves needing to make a deal under pressure that could keep them as contenders.

They traded Kyrie to the Boston Celtics for a future lottery pick (eighth overall in 2018), MVP candidate Isaiah Thomas, Jae Crowder and Ante Zizic. That was supposed to be a blockbuster package that would thread the needle of contending in the present and reloading for the future.

When Thomas failed his physical as part of the deal, however, the writing was on the wall. The Cavs couldn’t try to bring Irving back into the fold at that point, so they accepted an extra second-round pick and went through with it. Thomas was a shell of himself in Cleveland, Zizic never amounted to anything in the NBA, and Jae Crowder had one of the worst seasons of his career.

The Cavs also steadfastly refused to use that lottery pick to upgrade the roster, not wanting to be caught with their pants down if LeBron James left that summer; reportedly they didn’t pursue Paul George for that reason. They went on to draft Collin Sexton with the No. 8 pick the following June; perhaps this deal looks better if they took Mikal Bridges or Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, but in the end all the Cavs got for Kyrie Irving were ineffective players and a middling draft pick outcome. Not great, Bob.