So long, LeBron? Irving wants out of Cleveland
Cavaliers guard wants to be out of LeBron’s shadow
Every player in the NBA would do just about anything for the chance to play alongside LeBron James and experience the annual accompanying trips deep into the playoffs.
Every player, that is, except for Kyrie Irving.
News broke Friday — first reported by ESPN.com, and later confirmed by The Washington Post and others — that Irving has demanded a trade from the Cleveland Cavaliers, and, in doing so, is willing to step away from that most coveted role of playing next to LeBron.
So what gives? First, it should be noted that this isn’t exactly a surprise to anyone within the NBA. There has been tension with the Cavaliers ever since James returned to Cleveland — a move that came less than two weeks after Irving committed to a five-year max contract extension on the opening night of free agency in 2014. When Irving signed that deal, both he and the Cavaliers envisioned his being the face of the franchise for years to come.
Then James decided he wanted to go back to northeast Ohio, and the plans involving Irving were understandably thrown out the window. It’s worked out beautifully for all parties involved — Irving has thrived playing next to James in the form of winning a championship, becoming a shoeselling star and being the face of the upcoming version of NBA 2K.
But what’s clear now is that Irving’s desire to be the face of a franchise has never gone away, and, after three years biding his time, he doesn’t want to wait any longer.
The problem is that the timing here is all wrong. There has been open speculation for weeks now that James is considering leaving Cleveland next summer, when both Irving and Love will be a year away from free agency. If James does decide to go to Los Angeles or elsewhere, no
one would question either of the two remaining stars if they went to ownership and asked to be moved, as well.
Such a move would actually make sense for both the players and the team, allowing the Cavaliers to begin a full rebuild by presumably recouping a decent trove of assets in exchange.
Irving’s choice to do this now, though, raises all kinds of questions.
Most notably, what does it say about someone that they don’t want to play alongside James? Sure, whenever someone plays on the same team as the best player on earth, and one of the greatest players in the history of the game, he will be at least slightly obscured. Yet doing so also represents a guaranteed path to the NBA Finals year after year, which Irving wasn’t exactly doing while winning 21, 24 and 33 games in his first three professional years before James arrived.
And it’s not as if Irving has seen his stardom diminished by James’s arrival. If anything, it’s been enhanced.
He hit one of the biggest shots in NBA history in 2016, with his three-pointer in the final minute of Game 7 of the Finals delivering the city of Cleveland its first championship in over 50 years, and giving Irving the kind of forever moment most players can only dream of having.
Irving could arguably point to Cleveland’s messy summer as a reason for leaving.
While owner Dan Gilbert is likely to promote the more than capable Koby Altman into the general manager’s job, Gilbert has left the team’s interim GM hanging for the past month after failing to extend predecessor David Griffin, and letting both Griffin and assistant GM Trent Redden walk after three straight Finals trips.
Still, none of this changes the fact that the Cavaliers remain massive favorites to make it back to the Finals next June, barring an injury to James.
In many ways, this decision by Irving feels analogous to the one Irving’s idol, Kobe Bryant, once made in asking to be traded away from playing alongside Shaquille O’Neal with the Lakers. This is the kind of situation players are constantly trying to angle their way into, not the other way around.
But, regardless of motive, now that the news is out there, the focus will shift to how the Cavaliers will choose to respond. And the most logical outcome for Altman to pursue — again, assuming he is officially put into the top job — will be to do what the Lakers did both times Bryant asked to be traded: nothing.
As things stand now, will the Cavaliers win a championship again next season? Probably not.
But remember, there was a 20-minute window in Washington earlier this year when the Warriors felt Kevin Durant would be lost for the season. If he had been, who’s to say Cleveland couldn’t have won a second straight title? In fact, the Cavaliers may have been favorites to do so.