The saga that was this summer’s trade between the Boston Celtics and the Cleveland Cavaliers is now behind us all, with the Celtics ironing out some issues Cleveland raised by throwing in a 2020 second-round pick to sweeten the deal.
However, that doesn’t mean people aren’t going to talk about this trade anymore, especially with news of how both camps debated among themselves whether the trade would be worth it at the end of day — just like in the story of Jason Lloyd for The Athletic published on Thursday.
According to Lloyd, not everyone on LeBron James’ camp was big on the deal that, before the aforementioned revision, originally plotted to move Kyrie Irving to the Celtics in exchange for Isaiah Thomas, Jae Crowder, Ante Zizic, and a 2018 first-round pick.
Throughout these negotiations, there were those in LeBron James’ camp who hoped maybe the Cavs would turn back from this trade with Boston, hang on to Kyrie Irving and bring him to training camp to give the team’s two best players a chance to work out any differences.
The negotiations would not have dragged that long to become an even bigger story than it was if it weren’t for the troublesome hip of Isaiah Thomas. Apart from the doubts on Thomas’ readiness to play from the get-go of the 2017-18 season, the Cavaliers are also worried of the guard’s ability to fully recover from the injury, especially if it ultimately required surgery to repair.
On the flipside, hanging on to Irving and nixing the deal could’ve given the Cavaliers’ locker room a volatile atmosphere with two former number one picks in James and Irving struggling to coexist after a colorful summer that saw both players take subtle jabs at each other.