Going-Going-Gone

With the addition of Miami’s 2020 second round pick, the Kyrie Irving era in Cleveland has now come to an end.

After a week of speculation on whether the Boston / Cleveland trade would go through due to Isaiah Thomas’ health, Thursday provided us that answer.

The trade breaks down like this:

Boston Receives: Cleveland Receives:

Kyrie Irving Isaiah Thomas

Jae Crowder

Ante Zizic

2018 Unprotected First Round Pick (via Brooklyn)

2020 Second Round Pick (via Miami)

For Boston, Kyrie is a high caliber point guard with NBA Championship poise and experience. He also has a minimum of two more years left of his contract (player option) meaning that the Celtics can continue to improve and hopefully retain him once his contract expires. Additionally, by trading Jae Crowder to the Cavs, the Celtics reduce their payroll, mitigate additional luxury tax and can focus on developing its two young and talented forwards – Jaylen Brown and recent third overall pick, Jayson Tatum. Finally, with Isaiah Tomas’ contract set to expire after the 2017/2018 season, it means that Boston would not need to offer him the likely max contract he would request.

For Cleveland, this trade provides them with the opportunity to compete in the upcoming season and prepares them for a future without LeBron. For this upcoming season, the Cavs receive an all-star point guard that averaged 28.9 ppg, 5.9 asts and 2.7 rpg and will surly have a Kyrie-esk impact. Additionally, Jae Crowder improves the teams’ bench depth and the backup small forward position with a scrappy defender and efficient 3-point shooter. Assuming that LeBron chooses to leave Cleveland and take his talents somewhere else (I’ll let your imagination determine that), the Cavs are set to rebuild. The trade gives them the rights to Brooklyn’s 2018 first round pick, which will most likely be a top five pick and means they would save on paying LeBron and re-signing Thomas saving at least $40 million.

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As of right now, we can only debate the winner of the trade but on October 17 when the Celtics pay a visit to Cleveland, we will finally have our first insight.