Kyrie Irving reportedly ‘not talking’ to Cavaliers and wants ‘very badly’ to join Knicks
Kyrie Irving is under contract to the Cavaliers for two more seasons (with a player option for a third), so if the team wants to, it can refuse to acquiesce to his trade request and more or less force him and LeBron James to try to get along. However, lest Cleveland consider playing hardball, Irving is reportedly sending a message by playing hard to get.
Or, at least, Irving is playing hard to reach. That’s according to Jason Lloyd of The Athletic, who reported Thursday that Cavs management has found the all-star guard to be “unreachable” since he asked to be traded earlier this month.
“The Cavs have unsuccessfully tried to contact Irving, multiple sources with knowledge of the situation told The Athletic, but he is not talking to anyone from the organization,” Lloyd wrote. Irving has been on a Nike-related tour of Asia, but, of course, that would have presented no major obstacle to communication, were he so inclined.
Someone with knowledge of Irving’s mind-set was apparently in recent communication with ESPN’s Pablo Torre, because Torre offered an update Thursday on “First Take,” saying, “I got a phone call, and the voice on the other end of that phone call was a very trustworthy person.
“And he was saying to me that Kyrie Irving very badly wants to be a New York Knick. Kyrie Irving wants to come home.”
It had been reported earlier that Irving, who grew up in New Jersey, told the Cavs that his “preferred landing spots” included the Knicks, Spurs, Heat and Timberwolves. By many accounts, New York’s feeling toward Irving is very much mutual, and young star Kristaps Porzingis indicated that he would be delighted with the potential addition.
At a news conference Wednesday to introduce the team’s new general manager, Koby Altman, Cavs owner Dan Gilbert was noncommittal about possibly trading Irving away. “These things are fluid,” Gilbert said (via the Associated Press). “We think that Kyrie Irving is one of the best guards in the NBA.
That last comment could be construed as Gilbert signaling to prospective trading partners not to make lowball offers just because it appears that the Cavs are in a position of weakness. Gilbert suggested that his team was willing to hang on to the 25-year-old, saying: “Right now Kyrie Irving is under contract with the Cleveland Cavaliers for two or three years, depending on the last year. As of now he’s one of our best players and sure, we expect him to be in camp.”
Altman said that reports of a rift between Irving and James were “overblown.” That contrasts with what ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith said earlier in the week, when he claimed “sources in LeBron James’s camp” told him “if Kyrie Irving was in front of LeBron James right now, LeBron James would be tempted, quote, to beat his a–, end quote.”
James subsequently described Smith’s claims as “not facts,” while ESPN’s Brian Windhorst threw cold water on reports that the four-time MVP was using his league connections to see what Cleveland could get in exchange for Irving. “James has been communicative with Cavs but is not inquiring about any players in possible Kyrie Irving trades, sources say,” Windhorst tweeted.
So we know that James has been “communicative” with Cleveland while Irving apparently has not. We don’t know where the latter will ultimately wind up — Knicks fans might want to prepare for the possibility of yet more disappointment — but it seems increasingly likely that Irving won’t be a member of the Cavs much longer.
