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Kyrie Irving Rumors: Spurs, Celtics, Porzingis

August 15th, 2017 at 10:04am CST by Luke Adams

If the Cavaliers had received assurances from LeBron James that he intends to remain with the franchise beyond the 2017/18 season, their approach to a Kyrie Irving trade might be much different, writes ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. While the Cavs certainly haven’t given up hope of James remaining in Cleveland, the franchise wants to use an Irving trade to protect itself against his possible departure — that means focusing on acquiring a young potential star, rather than targeting veteran help for LeBron.

Initially, the Cavs’ desire in an Irving trade was to acquire young players and picks that could help the team down the road and to get pieces that could help the club contend immediately. However, that kind of massive return may not be available for the star point guard, forcing the Cavaliers to choose one path or the other. And with LeBron unwilling to commit, the Cavs are leaning toward prioritizing long-term pieces over short-term help.

As Wojnarowski details, Josh Jackson (Suns), Jayson Tatum (Celtics), Jamal Murray (Nuggets), and even Kristaps Porzingis (Knicks) are among the young players the Cavaliers have their eye on in trade talks. In his own piece on the situation in Cleveland, Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders agrees that those four teams – Phoenix, Boston, Denver, and New York – are mentioned most frequently as trade partners, and continue to have discussions with the Cavs.

Here’s plenty more on the Irving situation:

According to both Wojnarowski and Kyler, teams around the NBA believe that the Cavaliers will ramp up trade talks and get more serious about moving Irving in September, with training camps approaching.
The Spurs have interest in Irving, but the fact that the Cavs are prioritizing young potential stars over veteran help means Cleveland doesn’t have much interest in the likes of LaMarcus Aldridge, Tony Parker, or Danny Green, says Wojnarowski.
Although the Cavaliers are intrigued by Tatum, the Celtics have yet to make an official offer for Irving and the two sides haven’t formally discussed this year’s No. 3 overall pick, according to Wojnarowski. Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe adds (via Twitter) that Boston has remained in touch with the Cavs throughout the process.
The idea of including Porzingis in an Irving offer is currently a “non-starter” for the Knicks, per Wojnarowski. However, Woj adds there may still be some lingering tension between Porzingis and the franchise, and teams are wondering how emphatic the Knicks’ “no” really is — especially if the Cavaliers would be willing to take on Joakim Noah‘s contract.
Wojnarowski reports that the Bucks have shown interest in Irving. However, with Giannis Antetokounmpo obviously untouchable, Milwaukee may not have a young star who makes sense for the Cavs.
Although the Clippers have been mentioned as a possible landing spot for Irving, a league source tells Kyler that L.A. doesn’t appear to have the right combination of assets to appeal to the Cavs — a third team would be necessary, and even that may not be enough to make the Clips a serious contender for Irving.

Kyrie Irving Notes: Communication, Future, LeBron

August 13th, 2017 at 1:53pm CST by marksuleymanov

In a somewhat comical yet harsh column, Mike Polk Jr. of Cleveland.com breaks down Kyrie Irving‘s highly publicized trade request as the former NBA champion reportedly wants out of Cleveland. The Cavaliers have been fielding offers for their All-Star point guard but at this juncture, no deal appears close. Polk believes that Irving’s ego is clouding his judgment and could ultimately ruin his legacy.

Irving has notoriously been criticized for his defense, something that, depending on who you ask, stems from his lack of defensive skill or defensive effort. While scoring is not an issue for Irving (25.2 PPG in 2016/17), team’s — at least so far — have not blown the Cavaliers away with offers. Polk opines that Irving’s attitude and limited defense may be scaring off suitors and that alone is a red

However, Irving and James could both be on their way out by the end next season, which could put the Cavaliers in a dire situation. Therefore, fans should embrace their superstar duo and Irving should set aside his desire to “lead a team” in lieu of making possibly one final run at the title, Polk writes. It may be easier said than done, but with three NBA Finals appearances and one title on their combined resume, Irving and James have proven they can be successful together.

Read more Irving-related news tidbits below:

In another Cleveland.com column, Bud Shaw criticizes Irving for not addressing his trade demand. Instead, Irving is focused on his brand with Shaw citing a recent sneaker release in which Irving collaborated with Kobe Bryant. Irving has been bashed throughout the NBA for wanting to break up a super team to create a core in which he’s the leader. Shaw writes that the Cavaliers’ hope is for Irving to assure interested teams he will not pull a similar stunt in two years when his current deal expires, which should facilitate a deal.
On a recent edition of The BBall Breakdown Podcast, ESPN reporter Dave McMenamin reported that Irving went several days last postseason without speaking to his Cavaliers teammates. “Phoenix, of course, hired James Jones this offseason,” McMenamin said (via USA Today). He’s been inside that locker room. He’s seen Kyrie Irving – I think I reported this on SportsCenter this week – he saw Kyrie Irving in the playoffs this year – in between the first round when they beat Indiana and the second round when they played Toronto – go consecutive days without speaking to a teammate at practice.” With Irving a seeking a chance to lead, reports of him secluding himself from teammates contradicts his reported intentions.

And-Ones: Offseason Winners, Losers

August 11th, 2017 at 4:35pm CST by Austin Kent

There were no shortage of teams that made big moves in an effort to improve this offseason but the squad that improved its standing the most is Tom Thibodeau‘s Timberwolves, an ESPN report says.

The worldwide leader in sports put the Wolves well ahead of the second-place Sixers who edged out the Nuggets. Also on ESPN’s list were the Bucks, Thunder and Lakers.

It’s hard to disagree with the fact that the Timberwolves took the top honors, the impact that Jimmy Butler will have is almost indisputable.

The Sixers and Nuggets, too, will welcome big names to their lineup, Philly’s of course coming via the past two drafts and Denver’s in the form of free agent Paul Millsap.

There’s more from around the NBA:

Turmoil in the locker room could cost the Cavaliers big time, an ESPN report states. The Cavs are considered the team most likely to be adversely affected by off-court moves and issues in 2017/18, ahead of the Knicks, Pelicans, Clippers, Bulls and Rockets.
A number of stars will suit up for new squads this season but the biggest addition of the offseason has been Houston’s landmark acquisition of Chris Paul. An ESPN report breaks down why the Rockets fared so well this offseason.
An ESPN report suggests that the Hornets‘ decision to acquire Dwight Howard may not bear fruit. Due to concerns about his fit in the modern era, he’s the most likely candidate to be the least effective individual to have changed addresses this summer.

Rockets, Knicks Re-Engage On Melo Talks

August 10th, 2017 at 4:51pm CST by ChrisCrouse

The Knicks and Rockets have re-engaged on trade talks regarding Carmelo Anthony, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.com reports. The Rockets are yet again searching for a third team to facilitate the deal.

The Knicks and Rockets made significant progress on a deal when Phil Jackson was in charge, but New York’s new GM Scott Perry has been more particular about the package he’d want in return for Anthony. A deal directly between the two sides remains unlikely as New York does not have an interest in bringing back Ryan Anderson.

Anthony remains determined to go to Houston, as he refuses to expand the list of teams in which he’s willing to waive his no-trade clause for, according to Wojnarowski.

The Pelicans, Blazers, and Thunder are among the teams which have expressed interest in adding the 10-time All-Star. However, Anthony has reportedly been uninterested in joining any of those squads. Portland remains interested in acquiring Anthony should he change his mind. Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum continue to recruit Anthony with the hopes that he will change his stance on coming to the Northwest, Wojnarowski adds.

Anthony had previously expressed willingness to waive his NTC to join LeBron James in Cleveland, though Kyrie Irving‘s situation and LBJ’s uncertain future have dulled his enthusiasm for the Cavs.

New York has no problem bringing Anthony to training camp and Woj hears that Anthony beginning the season in a Knicks’ uniform remains a real possibility.

Blatt Remains Focused On Returning To The NBA

August 9th, 2017 at 7:07pm CST by Arthur Hill

Former Cavaliers coach David Blatt eventually wants to become a diplomat, but first he’d like another shot at the NBA, writes Allon Sinai of The Jerusalem Post.

Blatt got just a season and a half in Cleveland, guiding the Cavs to a 53-29 record in 2014/15, then a 30-11 mark before being fired in January of the following season. Tyronn Lue took his place and led the Cavaliers to their first NBA title.

Blatt spent last season as the coach of Darussafaka in the Turkish Super League, leading the team to the Euroleague quarterfinals and Turkish league semifinals. The Israel native recently committed to the team for another season, turning down a three-year offer from Maccabi Tel Aviv because he envisions an NBA return before that contract would expire.

“I have an end game and that end game is that I would really like to go back to the NBA,” Blatt said. “There were no changes in the NBA this year from a coaching standpoint and my real goal is to try next year to get back into the league as a head coach. It may happen and it may not happen. But I wanted to leave that door open for myself if the opportunity arises.”

Blatt got close a year ago, finishing among the final candidates for openings with the Knicks, Rockets and Kings. However, all three teams went in other directions, leaving Blatt’s NBA return on hold.

“Sometimes you can be right there and at the last moment you don’t get it and that’s life,” he said. “That is the realistic and competitive environment of trying to get a job of that nature. There is no guarantee.”

Ex-Cavs GM Suggests Celtics On Irving’s List

August 8th, 2017 at 5:15pm CST by Joshua Fischman

In an appearance on ESPN’s “The Jump” on Monday (h/t to CSNNE.com), former Cavaliers general manager David Griffin suggested that the Celtics are on Kyrie Irving’s short list of preferred destinations.

Griffin mentioned Brad Stevens and Gregg Popovich as “really good coaching situations” that Irving covets, as well as Irving’s desire to play with “Gordon Hayward in Boston” or “Kawhi Leonard in San Antonio.”

The Spurs had previously been reported as a team on Irving’s list, but this is the first the public is hearing about the Celtics as a desired destination for the disgruntled point guard. Aside from the Spurs, the Knicks, Heat, and Timberwolves were reported by Chris Haynes as Irving’s top choices for landing spots.

While the Celtics certainly have the assets to land Irving, with a trove of draft picks and Marcus Smart, Jaylen Brown, and other desirable players, Danny Ainge has been reluctant to part with these assets in trades for Paul George and Jimmy Butler, which led to the pair being traded elsewhere for far less than the Celtics could have offered.

Furthermore, if the Celtics were to strike a deal for Irving, he and Isaiah Thomas would make for an awkward fit starting in the backcourt, and a particularly troublesome pairing for Boston on defense, with neither point guard known for his defensive prowess. Irving also has reportedly wanted to be the lead guy on his next team, but Thomas is – and would likely continue to be – the Celtics’ franchise player. More likely, in the improbable event that the teams make a trade involving Irving, Thomas would have to head the other way.

Former GM Praises Irving, Expects Trade

August 7th, 2017 at 6:26pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Former Cavaliers GM David Griffin praised All-Star guard Kyrie Irving for the way he approached his trade request during an interview on ESPN’s The Jump show.

Griffin said Irving’s decision to make the request to owner Dan Gilbert in a private meeting took “courage” and was preferable to feigning that he was happy in Cleveland.

“The absolute worst thing this guy could have done was pretend to be all-in and sink the ship from within,” Griffin said on the show. “Most guys don’t have the courage to do what he did.”

Griffin believes Irving will be traded and that it would be better for both sides if that happens.

“I see this as him looking for a fit for himself, to take the next step in his career,” he said. “I think this is a guy who wants to know how good he can be. LeBron (James) casts a very large shadow over an organization.”

Griffin’s comments could be construed as a veiled shot at the organization, since the court of public opinion has taken Irving to task for requesting a trade from the three-time defending Eastern Conference champions. Griffin and Gilbert parted ways right before the June draft when the two sides couldn’t come to an agreement on a contract extension.

Irving’s request was made before Griffin was let go and the former GM was exploring trade options in his final days with the franchise, according to Sam Amico of Amico Hoops. A trade scenario involving the Clippers and Chris Paul was discussed, according to Amico, but those talks proved fruitless and Paul was eventually dealt to the Rockets.

Irving isn’t close to being dealt, sources told Amico.

NBA Teams Projected To Be 2017/18 Taxpayers

August 7th, 2017 at 11:28am CST by Luke Adams

In the wake of 2016’s salary cap spike, the luxury tax line was higher than ever in 2016/17, and only two teams finished the season above it. The Clippers barely crossed over into taxpayer territory, while the Cavaliers blew past that threshold and were on the hook for a big tax bill.

In 2017/18, the salary cap increase was far more modest, and as a result, it appears that several more teams will finish the season as taxpayers, surpassing this year’s $119.266MM tax line. Teams have until the end of the ’17/18 regular season to adjust team salary in an effort to get back under the tax line, but most of those clubs will have little leverage if they try to dump salary, so it won’t be easy to cut costs.

Here’s an early look at the teams likely to finish 2017/18 as taxpayers:

Cleveland Cavaliers
Current guaranteed team salary (approximate): $139.73MM
No team is further over the tax line than the Cavaliers, and Cleveland will also qualify as a repeat taxpayer for the first time this year, making the penalties levied against the franchise more punitive. Currently, the Cavs’ projected tax bill is approaching $70MM, which explains why the team is interested in attaching an extra contract or two to Kyrie Irving in any trade.

Golden State Warriors
Current guaranteed team salary (approximate): $135.36MM
Last year’s dominant Warriors team actually didn’t have one of the more expensive rosters in the league, but that will change this time around, with several players signing lucrative new deals. The biggest raise belongs to Stephen Curry, who played out the final season of a four-year, $44MM deal in 2016/17, and will now start a five-year, $200MM+ pact.

Oklahoma City Thunder
Current guaranteed team salary (approximate): $125.99MM
Years ago, the Thunder decided to move on from James Harden when he and the team couldn’t agree to terms on an extension that would have created luxury-tax issues for the franchise. Now, Oklahoma City has the third-highest team salary in the NBA, and a projected tax bill that will exceed $10MM.

Portland Trail Blazers
Current guaranteed team salary (approximate): $124.25MM
The Trail Blazers managed to slash their projected tax bill significantly a couple weeks ago when they sent Allen Crabbe to the Nets for Andrew Nicholson. Assuming they eventually waive and stretch Nicholson’s contract, as expected, the pair of transactions will save the club upwards of $40MM in tax payments alone.

Washington Wizards
Current guaranteed team salary (approximate): $123.54MM
Going into tax territory was necessary if the Wizards wanted to match Otto Porter‘s offer sheet from the Nets and bring him back. Fortunately for the club, John Wall‘s new super-max extension won’t go into effect until 2019/20 — his current salary is far below the 2017/18 max, which will save the Wizards from paying more exorbitant tax penalties.

Milwaukee Bucks
Current guaranteed team salary (approximate): $119.38MM
The Bucks currently project to be over the tax threshold by a very small amount, and I’d be surprised if the team doesn’t make every effort to trim payroll and sneak below that line before the season is over. Milwaukee isn’t a big-market team, and the opportunity to be on the receiving end of the luxury tax – rather than the paying end – will be tantalizing.

Outside of the six teams listed above, a handful of other clubs are inching dangerously close to tax territory. Among them: The Clippers, whose estimated guaranteed team salary sits about $100K below the tax threshold; the Pelicans, who are less than $1MM below the tax line; and the Rockets, who only have about $114.75MM in guarantees, but are carrying several million more dollars in non-guaranteed contracts.

Salary information from ESPN, Basketball Insiders, and HeatHoops was used in the creation of this post.

Poll: Which Central Team Had Best Offseason?

August 7th, 2017 at 9:01am CST by Luke Adams

When we asked last week which Atlantic and Northwest teams have enjoyed the best offseasons of 2017, there were a handful of teams deserving of consideration. Several of the 10 teams from those divisions landed star players or deftly maneuvered the salary cap to upgrade their rosters in other ways.

In the Central division, the candidates are a little less impressive.

The Bulls and Pacers were on the other end of two of those trades that sent All-Star players to Northwest teams, with the clubs trading away Jimmy Butler and Paul George, respectively. In both cases, the return left something to be desired — Chicago received Zach LaVine, Kris Dunn, and Lauri Markkanen, while the Pacers landed Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis.

Indiana has at least has made some savvy moves in the weeks since the George trade, picking up Cory Joseph, Darren Collison, and Bojan Bogdanovic on affordable contracts, while the Bulls have only re-signed Cristiano Felicio and added Justin Holiday.

The defending Central – and Eastern – champions may join those two teams soon in having traded away an All-Star player, but for now Kyrie Irving remains with the Cavaliers. Cleveland’s offseason grade is probably incomplete until we see what the team does with Irving, but so far the Cavs’ summer moves have been somewhat underwhelming. The additions of players like Derrick Rose, Jeff Green, Jose Calderon, and Cedi Osman were solid, but they were hardly the sort of transformative moves the clubs envisioned heading into the offseason.

The up-and-coming Bucks showed signs last season suggesting they could be an Eastern Conference force within the next year or two, but with Greg Monroe and Spencer Hawes opting into their respective contracts, Milwaukee’s flexibility to make additions has been limited. Outside of re-signing Tony Snell, the Bucks have essentially been quiet in free agency — the team’s most notable additions came in the draft, when D.J. Wilson and Sterling Brown joined the roster.

Of the five Central teams, the Pistons have perhaps been the most active in adding roster reinforcements, though your view of their offseason may hinge on how you feel about Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. Detroit let its top restricted free agent walk, opting to replace him by signing Langston Galloway and trading Marcus Morris for Avery Bradley. Other minor moves for the Pistons included re-signing Reggie Bullock and adding Anthony Tolliver.

What do you think? Which of the Central division teams had the best offseason? Did any of these teams take positive steps forward with their summer moves? Vote below in our poll and then jump into the comment section to share your thoughts.

Which Central team has had the best offseason?

Milwaukee Bucks 35.18% (564 votes)

Detroit Pistons 24.45% (392 votes)

Chicago Bulls 15.22% (244 votes)

Cleveland Cavaliers 13.97% (224 votes)

Indiana Pacers 11.17% (179 votes)

Total Votes: 1,603

Trade Rumors app users, click here to vote.

Previously:

Source Says Knicks Are Irving's Top Choice

August 6th, 2017 at 7:27pm CST by Austin Kent

The Knicks are Kyrie Irving‘s first choice, according to Adam Zagoria of ZagsBlog. Irving had previously listed four teams that he’d prefer the Cavaliers trade him to last month, the others being the Timberwolves, Spurs or Heat.