From Great to Bad to Worst: Cavs are in trouble

The Cleveland Cavaliers are a team in complete an utter turmoil and that is putting things mildly. Despite the Cavs going to three straight NBA Finals and being just over a year removed from winning a championship the team is in complete disarray.
The Cavs do not currently have a general manager after parting ways with former GM David Griffin last month. The team is also still currently trying to shape a roster that will hopefully be able to compete for a championship and convince LeBron James not to leave in free agency.
Those three things alone would be a lot for any franchise to worry about, unfortunately for the Cavs ESPN’s Brian Windhorst reported today that all star point guard Kyrie Irving asked the Cavs front office to grant him a trade during a meeting last week.
Irving is currently under contract with the Cavs until the 2019–20 season after which he will become an unrestricted free agent.
Windhorst reported that Irving is unhappy playing alongside James and would like to be traded to a team where he could be the focus point of the offense.
According to ESPN’s Chris Haynes Irving’s preferred destinations are the New York Knicks, Miami Heat, San Antonio Spurs and the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Irving’s request for a trade just adds to the list of problems currently facing the Cavs. Since Irving is under contract for the next to seasons there is not an immediate need to trade him.
The team could keep him and see if him, LeBron, Kevin Love and company could make another run for the Finals.
However LeBron’s potential departure from Cleveland next season has been a topic of discussion since the off season began.
The team may feel the need to just trade Irving at some point either now or during the season and began to rebuild now in case LeBron does leave next summer.
The only problem with that however is finding a trade partner that would be able to give up good enough assets in return for Irving. Irving is a multiple all star so the demand of a player of his skill would be either a multitude of young players and draft picks or seasoned veterans.
If the Cavs were to trade Irving for some younger assets this further complicates things regarding LeBron. LeBron has been in the league since 2003 and will turn 33 years old early into next season.
His immediate goal is to win as many championships as he can over the next few years. He is not going to want to help mentor a group of young players when he could be competing for a title.
With that being said the Cavs have a few options; blow up the team by trading Irving and letting James walk in free agency and begin a rebuild. The Cavs could wait Irving out much like the Los Angeles Lakers did with Kobe Bryant in the summer of 2007.
For those who do not remember the Lakers were in a similar situation with Kobe in 2007, he demanded a trade that summer while still under contract and the Lakers decided to wait it out rather than trade him.
This would out great for the Lakers, the team went on to advance to three straight NBA Finals after that summer winning two out of three with Bryant being named Finals MVP two years in a row.
The Cavs had enough problems to worry about going into training camp prior to Irving’s trade request. Things unfortunately continue to go down hill or this franchise and the future is not looking too bright.
Cleveland fans should prepare themselves because by this time next year this team and franchise could look drastically different.

