After several days of posturing and physical evaluations, the Cleveland Cavaliers and Boston Celtics finally agreed to complete their recent trade proposal on Wednesday night, just hours before the Thursday morning deadline. Now, both teams can focus on building around their new talent.
The Cavs, winners of last season’s Eastern Conference crown, are sending All-Star point guard Kyrie Irving to Boston. Initially, the Celtics offered Isaiah Thomas, who is also an All-Star, Jae Crowder, Ante Zizic, and the Brooklyn Nets’ unprotected first round pick in next year’s Draft. However, after flying Thomas to Cleveland for a physical examination, it became clear that the crafty ball-handler still had some lingering damage to the labrum he tore in last season’s playoffs. So, as any good negotiator would do, the Cavs asked the Celtics for something more as compensation. That “something” came in the form of Boston’s 2020 second-round pick — a pick that the Celtics acquired from the Miami Heat in 2015.
There were some concerns that the Cavs would choose to back out of their trade with the Celtics entirely. However, according to a report from TNT’s David Aldridge, Cleveland simply couldn’t walk away from the first round pick that Boston included in the deal.
Cavaliers valued Brooklyn ’18 pick too much to potentially blow up deal w/ Boston. Question now is how long Thomas will be out.
— David Aldridge (@daldridgetnt) August 31, 2017
What the Cavs will choose to do with their new draft picks is yet to be seen. In theory, Cleveland could elect to keep their selections, but they also might be inclined to include them in a package deal for other talented players. Let’s just wait and see.