- Donovan Mitchell praises ‘jumping’ Madison Square Garden atmosphere during Cavs-Knicks playoff series
- Richard Jefferson says he’s only mean to former Cavs teammates after destroying Tristan Thompson on ESPN
- Donovan Mitchell says he should’ve made All-NBA First Team: ‘I don’t know what the standard is’
- Brian Windhorst thinks Cavs and Suns will be targeting a lot of the same free agents next couple years
- Report: Cavs to host Magic for preseason game in October
- Donovan Mitchell unfollows Ja Morant on Twitter amid Grizzlies guard’s troubling antics
- Cavs guard Ricky Rubio considering return to Europe in future
- Channing Frye recalls similar play to Derrick White’s game-winner vs. Miami Heat that ‘hurt’
- Former Cavs big man publicly rips United Airlines for mishandling his luggage again
- Report: Cavs intend to bring back Cedi Osman and Lamar Stevens
Report: Kyrie Irving Had Several Stars Committed to Cleveland Before LeBron’s Return
- Updated: July 28, 2018
Now that both Kyrie Irving‘s and LeBron James‘ careers with the Cleveland Cavaliers have seemingly come to an end, it is interesting to imagine how things could have gone differently.
One of the biggest what-if questions revolve around how Irving’s time in Cleveland could have changed had James never decided to return to the Cavs in the summer of 2014.
According to a recent interview that former Cavs general manager David Griffin had with the local radio show “Cleveland’s Talking Heads,” Irving was attempting to build his very own super team in Cleveland. That is, until James decided to return to Northeast Ohio.
Didn’t see this anywhere
Former #Cavs GM David Griffin told @CLETalkingHeads yesterday that Kyrie Irving had Gordon Hayward, Trevor Ariza and Channing Frye committed to Cleveland in 2014 before Lebron James decided to return
— Jack McCurry (@JMcCurryCLE) July 28, 2018
As some fans pointed out, even though Gordon Hayward was committed to the Cavs according to Griffin, he was a restricted free agent that summer and any offer the Cavs came up with would have likely been matched by his team at the time. Despite that, it is compelling to see that Irving really was committed to building a team around himself in Cleveland before James arrived.
In the end, none of this changes the reality of the situation, which is that the Cavs have unfortunately lost two of the NBA’s most talented players in consecutive summers.
The Cavs enjoyed incredible success with both Irving and James and would have likely never won the 2016 NBA Finals without them. Still, with both players now sporting different uniforms, it’s hard not to imagine what might have been if things had gone differently.
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