Kyrie Irving NBA Trade Rumors: Celtics Add Second-Rounder to Complete Irving Trade
The blockbuster trade to send Kyrie Irving to Boston is finally official after the Celtics agreed to include the Miami Heat's 2020 second-round pick to complete the deal.
The deal was put on hold due to the status of Isaiah Thomas's injured hip, but the Cavaliers and Celtics reopened trade negotiations and Cleveland were willing to lower their asking price to finalize the trade.
Earlier, ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski had revealed that the Cavaliers were no longer asking for Jaylen Brown or Jayson Tatum, but they still want the Celtics to add a late first-round pick or second-round pick as compensation.
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"Cleveland and Boston officials started to engage each other on a solution Tuesday, league sources told ESPN. The Cavs are no longer seeking one of the Celtics' top young players, but they are still determined to land one of Boston's first-round picks as compensation, and the conversation has included second-round considerations, too, league sources said," Wojnarowski wrote in his report.
It's hard to imagine Cleveland getting a better deal elsewhere for Irving. Even if they didn't ask for another pick, the Cavaliers have already extracted a king's ransom from Boston for the All-Star point guard.
Aside from Thomas, the Celtics are also sending the Brooklyn Nets' unprotected 2018 first-round pick, two-way forward Jae Crowder and rookie center Ante Žižić to Cleveland. That's already quite a haul. Now they will also get a future second-rounder.
ESPN's Zach Lowe has reported that if the deal between the Cavaliers and Celtics fell apart, the Milwaukee Bucks were going to make an offer centered on 2017 rookie of the year Malcolm Brogdon and versatile wing Khris Middleton. And perhaps they might have included a first-round pick to sweeten the deal. But a lot of people will agree that the offer is still inferior to the one the Celtics have on the table.
Once he's healthy and back on the floor, Thomas can help LeBron James and Kevin Love carry the scoring load, and Crowder has the ability to guard the opposing team's best perimeter players. But the valuable long-term asset here is the Nets' pick. It is pretty much guaranteed to land in the top-10 even if the Nets improve next season and it has the potential to land in the top three.
