Quantcast
Marc Malusis: Kyrie Irving trade drama a dream for Knicks – Metro US

Marc Malusis: Kyrie Irving trade drama a dream for Knicks

NBA, Trade, Rumors, LeBron, Lakers, Kyrie Irving, Spurs
What a very interesting stretch we had last week.  
 
It was a week in which the Yankees declared themselves as contenders this season with their swap with the White Sox that included one of their elite level prospects in outfielder Blake Rutherford and brought back David Robertson, Todd Frazier and Tommy Kahnle.
 
It was also a week in which a young, dynamic scoring guard in Kyrie Irving made it be known that he wants out of Cleveland and demanded a trade from the Cavaliers and LeBron James.  
 
He reportedly wants to be traded to four teams: The Minnesota Timberwolves, Miami Heat, San Antonio Spurs or THE NEW YORK KNICKS.  
 
James was reportedly ‘devastated’ when he found out the news that Irving wanted out. After all, you don’t see many players looking to leave James. They usually gravitate towards him in order to try to win a championship.
 
This has certainly been a wild offseason for the Cavaliers after parting ways with general manager David Griffin.  They offered Chauncey Billups the job and he decided to turn it down so he could focus on the BIG3 and his broadcasting duties with ESPN.  
 
Cleveland also failed in their pursuits of Jimmy Butler and Paul George. Many pundits believed the Cavs won the offseason in the East by doing nothing because the conference got weaker with the defections of Butler and George. 
 
What are they saying now? The landscape has changed with the Irving trade demand.
 
 
Irving reportedly wants to be the focal part of an offense moving forward and his pro-active move seems to go in line with the rampant rumors that James will be leaving Cleveland next summer.  
 
So why hang around for the wreckage should James leave when you can try and get ahead of that process?
 
There is no question that Kyrie Irving is a star player having averaged a tad under 26 points per game this past season. He hit the NBA Finals-winning shot two years ago that helped deliver the city of Cleveland a championship and helped in making good of the King James prophecy.  
 
James was certainly the force in the 3-1 comeback, but there was no question that without the brilliance of Irving, there would be no championship for the Cavaliers.
 
Now Irving still has two years left on his contract and the Cavaliers do not have to trade him just because he requested it.  
 
They can hold onto him and hope the relationship between James and Irving improves or just make one last championship run this upcoming season and then decide what to do from there.  
 
It can play out in a lot of different ways moving forward and one of those situations would be trading him to the Knicks.
 
It almost seems too good to be true.  He grew up and played basketball during his formative years in New Jersey and before LeBron James decided to return to Cleveland, there were numerous reports that Irving would eventually end up playing at MSG.  
 
It is great to hear that Irving would actually want to play in New York. 
 
It is also great that he wants a different challenge. There might be no bigger challenge than trying to win with the Knicks.
 
That being said, it does not mean that Irving ends up in New York or even ends up being traded. It is not even debatable of whether or not the Knicks should have interest. They should and they do. 
 
The question is will the Cavs even trade Irving, knowing that when they do they will put themselves closer to the Celtics than the Warriors?
 
Remember, Kobe Bryant requested a trade from the Lakers on two occasions and he was never dealt. 
 
It is nice to dream about Irving coming back home to throw on the blue and orange Knicks jersey, but it does not mean it will happen. 
 
The Cavs hold all the cards and they should be in no rush to make a decision.  The Knicks have to play the long game with Irving, which should not be an issue for them since they are going nowhere.
 
As the Yankees have played themselves back into relevancy this season, maybe a Jersey product can help bring the Knicks back to relevancy in the not so distant future.  Maybe.