Former Cleveland Cavaliers general manager David Griffin joined ESPN’s The Jump via Ben Rohrbach of Yahoo!, addressing the Kyrie Irving trade request and the aftermath that came from it after news broke out.
Recently, Ron Harper was critical of the 25-year-old for his decision, citing immaturity for his wanting to become the face of a franchise, a thing which he was promised when he signed his extension in 2014, prior to the arrival of LeBron James.
Griffin believes Cleveland will trade Irving rather than let this issue contaminate the locker room throughout the season.
“I think Kyrie’s going to end up getting traded,” he said. “I think what Ron was saying is really unfair to Kyrie. This is a guy who handled the situation exactly like he was supposed to. He went to Dan Gilbert privately, told him that he thought he would be happier somewhere else. The absolute worst thing this guy could’ve done is pretend to be all-in and sink the ship from within. Most guys don’t have the courage to do what he did. That’s not youth and ignorance.”
Griffin ultimately not only supported Irving’s decision but praised his courage in asking for a change of scenery — claiming that his destination shortlist was actually one well thought-out and not one out of the blue.
“That’s a little bit more courage than people give him credit for,” said Griffin. “This is a guy whose list included really good coaching situations — Brad Stevens and (Gregg) Popovich. This is a guy who recruited LeBron, Hayward and a host of other free agents, and all of a sudden LeBron came back, so he was sold a totally different situation than he’s actually in, and he worked very well in, he won a championship in, and I see this as him looking for a fit for himself to take the next step in his career.”