While the trade that did occur between the Cavaliers and Celtics was as blockbuster as it gets and unprecedented in some ways, there was one other trade offer that was on the table that would have been exponentially more insane: Kyrie Irving for Klay Thompson.
The Cavaliers reportedly offered Kyrie Irving for Klay Thompson – the Warriors were "uninterested". (via ESPN) pic.twitter.com/MNemE0LU8z
— Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops) August 23, 2017
This was first reported by ESPN’s Marc J. Spears on Wednesday afternoon.
The Warriors were obviously very smart to turn down this deal, while Thompson would have fit beautifully on the Cavaliers and around LeBron James as an elite defender and the best catch-and-shoot player in the NBA, a Curry and Irving back court would not have been a natural fit and would have weakened the champions considerably defensively.
While this would have been great for Cleveland, it still may not have been as a great of a deal as a whole for the present and future as what they actually received from Boston in Isaiah Thomas, Jae Crowder, Ante Zizic and the revered 2018 unprotected 1st round pick from Brooklyn.
Could you have imagined a world in which the two NBA mega powers who have competed against each other in three consecutive NBA Finals would have swapped two of the top 10 to 15 players in the world? Many a basketball fan’s head may have exploded upon reading the Woj (or Shams) bomb.
While the Cavaliers are a much different team and their biggest eastern conference rival now has Kyrie Irving, as of today it feels like we still could be headed to yet another Warriors-Cavaliers rematch in the NBA Finals in 2018.
