OT:Stephen A. Smith: Kyrie Irving's 'No. 1 preference' for trade? Minnesota
In the drip-drip-drip of Kyrie Irving trade speculation, one drop caught my ear in particular Tuesday.
No, it wasn’t any of the alleged drama between LeBron James and his Cavaliers teammate. Rather, it was a nugget from ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith during a radio appearance on Mike & Mike.
We already knew that Irving apparently has four teams he would prefer to be traded to: New York, Miami, San Antonio and Minnesota.
Even fathoming that is still hard.
But Smith went a step further, reporting that those are indeed the four teams Irving would prefer to play for and adding, “and Minnesota is his No. 1 preference.” (You can listen to the audio clip here, around the 14:00 mark).
Again, the logistics of such a trade would be complicated (at best), and Smith makes the good point that the Cavaliers can trade him to any team they please (or keep him).
It’s also worth wondering how well Irving would fit in with the Wolves given his seeming desire to be a clear No. 1 player on a team. The Wolves already have Karl-Anthony Towns, Jimmy Butler and Andrew Wiggins, and even if one of them was involved in a trade for Irving (Wiggins is the most likely candidate), this is a team that already has some star power.
Hurry-up Vikings, we ain't getting any younger!
I'm torn on this one. If we trade a young potential star for one in his prime, what will be left when KAT is in his prime, what will keep him in minny? I want to see the team build around their young talent, not trade it away for a quick shot at a title. Whats the window for Kyrie and Jimmy..
2 or 3 years tops? Isn't that about when KAT should be peaking?
I say if you can get him for so lesser players and a draft pic then do it, but we've already changed the team drastically this year. See if you can win as is instead of cheapening it and tryimg to buy a championship.
It's cool to see a top player wanting to play for the Wolves, but it's hard to see how the deal would work. If we move Wiggins, then have nothing at the wings after Butler and Crawford (6th man). Cleveland would almost certainly want a PG in return and we can't move Teague until December 15th. If we traded for Irving and kept Teague, could they play in an undersized back court or how would that work? I just don't like the roster imbalance this would create, but maybe I am underestimating how much cheap talent they could sign to fill out the roster?
The Wolves do have tough decisions to make in the next few years. They'll need to decide if Wiggins is worth a a max contract and how that impacts things going forward. Irving is at least still young, albeit 3-years-older than Wiggins. Maybe the short term gain is worth the risk, it will be messy and they'd need to do a lot of work to fill out the roster.
Neither Wiggins or Kyrie are s hit on the defensive side of the ball. But Irving is one of the leagues best at closing and is just an unbelievable talent in a lot of ways the Wolves lack today.
In spite of that, I am on the fence if it ever came to fruition. Cleveland would want a young promising player in return. Thats for sure.
The only player that would make the Irving trade worth it for the Cavs is Wiggins IMO. I think we should just roll with what we have now and see what we have and go from there.
He's not the sharpest tool with the flat earth bs and he seems like a whiner. Build with what we've got.
I don't like the idea, and on top of that, I don't see what the no-bench Wolves have to use in a trade. Whoever they trade, that position would be left barren. They could swap Kyrie for Teague, but the Wolves would have to throw in a bunch of picks to make Cleveland swallow that.
The Wolves stink on D. Kyrie stinks on D. Seems like a match made in Heaven! ;)
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