It has been a rough summer so far for the Cleveland Cavaliers and their fans. After losing to the Golden State Warriors in the 2017 NBA Finals, the Cavaliers are now also facing the possibility of losing their All-Star point guard Kyrie Irving. Irving is seemingly unhappy in Cleveland and no longer wants to play alongside LeBron James. The 25-year old point guard from Australia went to the Cavaliers owner, Dan Gilbert, and requested to be traded away from Cleveland. It seems like it is only a matter of time before Irving leaves the Cavaliers, and many teams have already offered trade deals for him.
The All-Star guard mentioned the Knicks, the Spurs, the Miami Heat and the Timberwolves as his preferred landing spots if he gets traded. Other than those four teams, almost every other team in the NBA would love to have him on the roster and the Los Angeles Clippers are no different.
Clippers looking to get Irving
According to Eric Rosenthal of Page2Sports.com, the Los Angeles Clippers are also very interested in acquiring Kyrie Irving this summer. Apparently, they would be ready to offer DeAndre Jordan and Patrick Beverley to the Cleveland Cavaliers in exchange for the Cavs' point guard. According to Rosenthal, this deal could be very interesting to the Cavaliers because of Patrick Beverley's two-year, $10.5 million contract.
The Clippers acquired Beverley earlier this summer via trade from the Houston Rockets and therefore he can't be traded again until the 27th of August. DeAndre Jordan, on the other hand, has two more years left on his contract with the Clippers but has the right to opt out of the final year.
This potential deal would pair Kyrie Irving with Blake Griffin on the Clippers and it would be an interesting, dynamic duo to watch in the Western Conference next season.
It would still not be enough to beat the Golden State Warriors, but surely the Clippers would love to have Kyrie Irving in Los Angeles.
What will be the Cavs' next move?
If this deal goes through, the Cavaliers would get a great, defensive minded center in DeAndre Jordan and a solid backup point guard - Patrick Beverley. This may not be the best possible deal right now for Cleveland but it could be interesting enough for them to consider it.
Irving still has two more years on his current contract with the Cavaliers and they don't have to trade him this offseason if the right deal doesn't show up. The 6-foot-3 guard has great value on the NBA market as he's considered as one of the best point guards in the league and Cleveland surely doesn't want to let him go away easily. It will be interesting to see how this situation evolves as we still have a long way before the start of the NBA season.
