The seemingly imminent Kyrie Irving trade has dominated headlines during the latter parts of this eventful NBA offseason. We’ve seen plenty of big names switch teams this summer and Irving has seemed to be next in line ever since he asked the Cleveland Cavaliers for a trade due to him being unwilling to play second fiddle to LeBron James any longer.
While plenty of teams already have a franchise point guard in place, 20 out of the 30 NBA teams have contacted the Cavs about Irving and apparently, the Toronto Raptors are among one of those who have inquired about the Duke product. According to Raptors General Manager Bobby Webster, Toronto has ‘definitely’ been in touch with the Cavs regarding Irving, expressing when a talent like that is made available it’s in every team’s best interest to at least make a call. Following from TSN’s Josh Lewenberg:
Bobby Webster, asked if Raps have called Cavs re: Kyrie- "Definitely. When a player like that becomes available you'd be remiss not to call" pic.twitter.com/1YwiKEG593
— Josh Lewenberg (@JLew1050) August 15, 2017
While swinging a trade for Irving would make sense for a handful of NBA teams, the Raptors aren’t one of them, on paper at least. They already have their starting point guard and an all-star caliber one at that in Kyle Lowry who just signed to a long-term extension earlier this summer. They also have another volume scorer at shooting guard in DeMar DeRozan so a backcourt marriage between him and Irving could be problematic in and of itself.
However, where Kyle Lowry lacks is where Kyrie Irving excels the most and that would be in the postseason when the lights are the brightest. Irving has been known for playing his best with everything on the line while Lowry has shown a tendency to crumble in the postseason.
The Raptors do have Lowry and a few other assets to offer Cleveland in a possible deal but a trade between the two sides remains a far-fetched idea.
