There are quite a few holes to Kyrie's story and the teams he says he wants to join. Let's start with San Antonio. Kyrie Irving would not be the number one option for the Spurs. Kawhi Leonard is already the franchise player. Also, Kyrie would have to change his play style to be a facilitator in their offense and get better at picking his spots. He would also have to try much harder on defense. Minnesota would be similar to San Antonio in that Kyrie might be the 3rd option behind Butler and Towns before even talking about the fact that they signed Jeff Teague for 3 years this offseason and have to keep him until December. Miami is intriguing, but I am not sure what Miami could offer the Cavs that they would want. New York is the one that seems to make sense, but Porzingis was upset after playing with a point guard very similar to Kyrie in Derrick Rose, so it is hard to imagine Porzingis being on board with that trade.
The truth of the matter is that the Cavs can trade Kyrie Irving to any team that they want and he still has 3 years left on his contract although he can opt out after the 2018-2019 season. They do not have to take into account what he wants and this is a chance for the Cavs to get ready for their much more possible future of Lebron-less basketball. I have a couple of ideas that would make a lot of sense for Kyrie destinations.
The first is the Milwaukee Bucks. The Cavs trade Kyrie Irving and their 2021 1st round draft pick for Thon Maker, Matthew Dellevadova, Rashad Vaughn, and Malcolm Brogdon. This does a couple of things, first, Cleveland gets to save a little bit of money, about 3 million. Second, you replace Kyrie Irving with two defensive minded point guards that are good shooters and do not make a lot of money in Brogdon and Dellevadova. Third, you are getting a nice young player in Maker that has shown some real flashes of talent. Three of these players are on rookie deals that you can easily get out of and Dellevadova only makes 9 million a year. Also, you have Cleveland's 2021 1st round draft pick that I would make sure that no protections are attached to. Cleveland will not be good in 2021. They will be without Kyrie, without Lebron, and probably Love. They have no young players at the moment that give even the slightest notion of being great. Also, if you are Milwaukee you now have a guy that can get buckets to pair up with Giannis. Everybody wins.
The second is the Boston Celtics. The Cavs trade Kyrie Irving to the Celtics for Isaiah Thomas, Jae Crowder, and Terry Rozier. The money works with the Cavs again saving 3 million. If you are Cleveland this a good trade, you get help on the wing from Crowder and you get back a point guard that is a good scorer in Thomas. The downside is that Thomas is a free agent after next season and he will want a lot of money. For insurance Cleveland might ask Boston for a pick. Boston gets Irving on a cheaper than Thomas was going to want contract and he can fit in nicely next to Horford and Hayward, two guys that would allow him to take the majority of shots. I am not sure if Boston and Cleveland would actually do this, but it could happen. I think this trade might actually make Cleveland better. You can have Crowder play small ball 4 with Thompson or Love, Lebron, JR Smith, and Isaiah Thomas.
I am still in shock that this transpired. It will have a huge impact on the league not only next season, but next offseason. This could end up being the death nail in Lebron staying in Cleveland. Lebron is not going to stick around for a rebuild. Most people already feel that he is gone, but this has to seal it. I thought Kyrie and Lebron complemented each other's games well. Lebron made Kyrie better. I don't think Kyrie made Lebron better. Something tells me that two or three years from now, Kyrie is going to realize what a great team Cleveland had and that maybe he should've stuck with it.