Kyrie Irving Comments On Relationship With LeBron James

This trade has been an interesting story.

Not that they needed extra value.

Just four players – Al Horford, Marcus Smart, Terry Rozier and Jaylen Brown – remain with a team that was the No. 1 seed in the East and advanced to the conference finals.

The Raptors were swept in the semifinals of the 2017 NBA Playoffs by James and the Cavaliers, but now the team has to contend with two juggernauts atop their conference now.

“I had a unique opportunity to play with one of the greats and it awesome”, Irving said. And now that I’m sitting here it just echoes in terms of me just being very appreciative of not only the Cleveland fans, all of OH, but as well Bron [for] incorporating me into that special team that we had in Cleveland. And there are no other ulterior reasons other than being happy, and wanted to be somewhere you feel like it’s an environment conducive for you maximizing your potential, ” Irving said. The Celtics were not ready to give up their last two lottery picks, both taken with the third pick in the last two drafts. The Cavaliers face an uncertain future post 2018 due to LeBron James’ impending free agency.

Although technically traded to the Celtics earlier in the month of August, the Irving swap between the Cavaliers and Celtics was not made official until just recently. Irving has, arguably, earned his spot as one of the top guards in the league. The bigger concern is Thomas trying to return too quickly so he can cash in on a big contract with the Cavaliers or another team next summer.

According to Adrian Wojnarowski, the Cavs are “determined” to get another first-round pick from the Celtics as compensation for Thomas’ injured hip.

Isaiah Thomas is still waiting to have his trade to the Cavs cleared.

“I haven’t had one doctor tell me that this injury is going to hurt my career”, the 28-year-old Thomas continued.

The teams had a deadline of 10 a.m. Thursday to agree on the trade, which was prompted by Irving demanded to be dealt in July.

The Kyrie Irving-to-Boston trade was completed on Wednesday, pairing Kyrie with former Utah Jazz forward Gordon Hayward, who also signed with the Celtics this offseason.