Kyrie Irving has played his entire NBA career with the Cleveland Cavaliers. He was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2011 NBA Draft, the NBA Rookie of the Year the following season, a four-time NBA All-Star and hit the game-winning shot in Game 7 of the 2016 NBA Finals to help give Cleveland its first NBA title.
And now he’s apparently ready to move on, and it turns out, the Cavs were ready as well.
ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne, Dave McMenamin and Brian Windhorst reported Sunday, citing league sources, that Irving, who already had grown frustrated with his role on the team besides LeBron James, became upset when the Cavs reportedly involved him in trade talks with the Chicago Bulls and Indiana Pacers earlier this offseason and neglected to inform the star guard of those talks.
Former Cavaliers general manager David Griffin, who stepped down June 20, reportedly was aware of Irving’s discomfort with his role on the team, as well as the toll playing with James had taken on him, and did his best to assuage those feelings.
But once Griffin left, the lines of communication reportedly closed off, and owner Dan Gilbert, as well as acting general manager Koby Altman, reportedly kept Irving in the dark as they tried to put together a trade package to acquire either Jimmy Butler or Paul George, according to Shelburne, McMenamin and Windhorst.
And so, already fed up with playing second fiddle to James, Irving reportedly asked Gilbert to be traded to either the New York Knicks, San Antonio Spurs, Miami Heat or Minnesota Timberwolves.
The Cavs knew they needed to improve their roster in order to compete with the Golden State Warriors, but it looks like they might have done more harm than good.
Thumbnail photo via David Richard/USA TODAY Sports Images
