The NBA rumor mill has been full of Kyrie Irving trade speculation over the past few days after news broke that the Cleveland Cavaliers’ star point guard has asked for a trade. Leaving the Cavaliers and LeBron James is a shocking decision from Irving, but he feels ready to become the franchise player for another team.
According to a report from ESPN NBA reporter Brian Windhorst, the Cavaliers have been informed that Irving would like a trade out of Cleveland.
Since the news broke that Irving had asked for a trade, there have been many trade ideas floated around. Many different teams are expected to have interest in acquiring Irving from the Cavaliers. One of those teams could end up being the Philadelphia 76ers, who are looking to speed up their rebuilding process.
Ryan Phillips of The Big Lead specifically mentioned the 76ers as one of the top five landing spots for Irving.
Irving would make a ton of sense for the Cavaliers. They have put together an excellent young core and are simply missing their go-to star. He would look nice alongside Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons, and the rest of the 76ers’ young talent.
Kyrie Irving asked Cavs for a trade, no longer wants to play with LeBron, per @WindhorstESPN .
Where will he land? pic.twitter.com/eKl1e8MWkh
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) July 21, 2017
Last season with the Cavaliers, Irving ended up averaging 25.2 points per game to go along with 5.8 assists and 3.2 rebounds per game. He shot 47.3 percent from the field overall and knocked down 40.1 percent of his three-point attempts. Irving also shot 90.5 percent from the foul line last season.
At just 25 years of age, Irving is going to be a huge addition for whoever acquires him. Adding a superstar doesn’t come around too often and it is obvious that Irving has a chip on his shoulder from taking a back seat to James in Cleveland.
Reports have stated that the Cavaliers’ star became disgruntled when he heard that the team was shopping him in trade talks around draft night. Cleveland was apparently looking to acquire either Jimmy Butler or Paul George and Irving’s name came up in those talks.
Kyrie Irving let the Cavs know he wants to be in a situation where he has a bigger role & doesn’t want to play with LeBron anymore (ESPN) pic.twitter.com/BkAkMtRGzg
— NBA Retweet (@RTNBA) July 21, 2017
All of that being said, it will be interesting to see what ends up happening with the Irving situation. Cleveland may not want to deal him, but they likely will have to execute a deal unless they can talk Irving down from the edge in the coming weeks ahead of the season.
Philadelphia may not end up being the team that acquires Irving, but they certainly appear to be a good landing spot for him.
Do you think the Philadelphia 76ers should try to acquire Kyrie Irving? What other teams do you think would be good landing spots? Let us know your thoughts in the comment box below!
[Featured Image by Tony Dejak/AP Images]
