Kyrie Irving Wants to Be in Minnesota – UPDATED: Thursday, 8/3/17, 1:30 PM CT

(Updated – 8/3/17 1:30 PM CT – Scroll Down)

Reports surfaced this afternoon that Kyrie Irving told the Cleveland Cavaliers he wants out of town. I saw it on Twitter pretty quickly and gave it a raised eyebrow. I immediately heard coworkers clammer about it in the cubes around me.

Then I thought: ‘So what?’

Look, I don’t have time to worry about Kyrie Irving deciding he doesn’t like LeBron James. I also don’t care about what Kathy Jenner-Kardashian-Chyna did on Insta yesterday. I run a MN Sports website. NOT ESPN or TMZ.

So, I forget about it and go on with my day.

Then. THEN. THEN.: My phone buzzes and I take a quick peak. This is what I see:





This is one of those moments where you have to look at it again. And again. Blink twice. Nah? Can’t be? Right?

This is Minnesota. We had Kevin Garnett for 45 years and couldn’t get a big name to come here. What the F*** is going on?

Before I go on, let me get real:

Kyrie Irving is NOT coming to Minnesota. Hold on… there is a 99% chance Kyrie Irving is NOT coming to Minnesota. These new coaches and Heads of State in Minnesota have me thrown for a loop so I can’t guarantee anything anymore. Older regimes were so easy to predict

PJ Fleck with his own special on ESPN… Richard Pitino is keeping top MN kids in MN… Jimmy Butler wants to play basketball here…. and now this?

As Minnesota Sports Fans, we have pleaded and begged and rioted. We have screamed, cried, and thrown adult (and child) tantrums for our sports teams and the lack of leadership we have endured.

Now, to see it all turn around so quickly, and in so many different sports, just makes it feel like a “pinch me” moment…

BUT… let me bring some Minnesota Sports Fan thought into this:

If we don’t take advantage? If we fall short like we have so many times, does it really matter?

Our time might be coming. We may be knocking on the door, as a sports town. But now we need to grasp it. If any of the teams can actually nurture the young talent it is breeding, into a championship…..

WE WILL NAME STATUES AND STREETS AND BUILDINGS AND KIDS AFTER ALL OF YOU.

So please… please… please… bring us to the promise land.

It will be a love you have never felt before.

Sincerely,

A Minnesota Sports Fan

@RealMNSportsFan

Photo/Source: BleacherReport


UPDATE: 7/24/2017 11:20 AM CT (Continue scroll for July 26 Update)

This picked up steam again this morning as we went into the new week and all the sports outlets came back online. Remember, this broke at the end of the day Friday which leaves little time for all the weekly outlets to talk about it.

AP Guy – Jon Krasinsky was on the Power Trip Morning Show on KFAN this morning discussing the likely-hood of this happening. He shocked me when he mentioned “under 30%” chance the Timberwolves make it happen…

HOLY SHIT! 30%…. THAT IS WAAAAAAY BETTER THAN I EXPECTED…

Look, I know “under 30%” could, obviously, mean anything below 30%; so that means nothing. However, I didn’t even see 30% as the realistic ceiling… so that was surprising to me. AP Guy also confirmed that Butler is trying to get Irving here AND that the Timberwolves are DEFINITELY looking into it.

Here is the full morning show. Scroll to about the 8 AM hour (103.50 minute mark) to hear AP Guy’s interview.

A big question has been: “How are the Wolves going to make the money work?” The Wolves would be taking on an additional $11ish Million with no room in the cap.  I had an idea this morning that was shot down on Twitter by AP Guy and Travis Czech @TravisLyleCzech (he knows a lot about the NBA CBA and Cap situation and how it all works. I would give him a follow.)

However, Travis had some scenarios that would make the deal fit.

AP Guy Confirmed what Travis said:

So, resigning Wiggins to the max deal won’t be enough because these trade dollars are based on the current year’s salary. However, I would be OK with adding Aldrich and Tyus to make it work.

Now, it looks like things in Cleveland are falling apart FAST. Here is a report this morning from Stephan A. Smith, saying that LeBron is the one who leaked Kyrie’s trade request to the press….

Now, that isn’t going to help relations. If things continue down this path, in Cleveland, then Kyrie will be on the move for sure.

But will it be Minnesota? Do you want to give Wiggins up for him? What if he agrees to resign for 5 more years at the end of his deal? He will be 27 years old at that time…

Lots of opinions on this. The Wolves wouldn’t be anything like the team we were rooting for last year. Does that matter to anyone?

You tell me.


Updated: 7/26/2017 6:45 AM CT (Continue scroll for July 27 Update)

So Kyrie Irving posted this on his SnapChat story last night:

It was nice of him to do that. Now sports outlets all over the country, and probably world, have another thing to talk about all day.

There are a couple things on this Snap:

  • LeBron titled his address to Cleveland, upon his return a few years ago, “I’m Coming Home”, so some are seeing this as another slight at James
  • Kyrie is from New York which is one of the teams that is rumored in trade talks with Cleveland

Does it mean anything?

Your guess is as good as mine. This soap opera is just too crazy, at this point, to even try and guess what will happen next. I know the media will be waiting and jumping on every social media post, from anyone involved, all day.

Also breaking this morning is that Chauncey Billups, former T-Wolf and former Cavs GM Prospect, said that he is not surprised with the Kyrie news and angst to get out of Cleveland, in an interview with ESPN:

“[Irving’s trade request] didn’t surprise me. I knew as [the Cavs] were doing their due diligence on me I was doing the same thing on them,” Billups said in an interview on the Vic Lombardi Show on Altitude Sports 950 AM in Denver on Tuesday.

He would go on to say:

“I knew so much about the situation that the rest of the world doesn’t know. But it’s unfortunate, man, because [Irving is] a special talent. So much of what he’s been able to accomplish on and off the floor has been as the beneficiary of having LeBron James.”

Lebron James tried to throw some water on the flames yesterday, calling some of the reports #NotFacts on social media. Stephen A. Smith refuted LeBron’s comments and invited him onto his radio show to discuss…. which LeBron didn’t do.




The news out of the Irving camp, according to Stephen A. Smith, is that the Wolves are at the top of Kyrie’s list of teams he would prefer to be traded to. It makes sense since we have the pieces the Caveliers would want back… well… we have Andrew Wiggins..

You can read more on that here from RandBall.

Andrew Wiggins plus a piece(s) would get it done, more than likely.

So, here in Minnesota, we will just grab our popcorn and watch to see what happens today. Is today the day Kyrie moves?

Hey Kyrie, if you are moving, Lake Minnetonka is sure nice this time of year…

Eric Strack
Minnesota Sports Fan
@RealMNSportsFan

Sources: ESPN, StarTribune, Yahoo Sports


Updated: 7/27/17 6:00 PM CT (Continue scroll for July 30 Update)

This update isn’t as promising Minnesota Fans…

Today, ESPN’s Pablo Torre reported a “trusted source” claims Kyrie is desperate to join his home town Knicks….

That would lend a little more credence to those who believe his SnapChat post, from above, was a plea to go home to New York. Minnesota fans who are desperate to see Irving in a Wolves jersey aren’t going to like that.

Well, at the end of the day, Kyrie doesn’t hold the final say. He doesn’t have any trade or no-trade clauses in his contract. AND we really don’t know what his “say” even is.  These types of reports make it seem like he DEFINITELY is NOT staying in Cleveland. Here is another tweet by someone with a checkmark:



So Kyrie is definitely out of Cleveland. Where does he go? Every day will be different until something becomes official. We will have all the updates here. Until then, I found this video interesting. It was from earlier this year. It is Kyrie describing some of the difficulties he deals with while playing with LeBron:

Eric Strack @RealMNSportsFan


Updated 7/30/17 9:45 AM CT (Keep Scrolling for 8/1 Update)

Well, as the days go along, it seems less and less likely that Irving will be in Minnesota. Yesterday, if you missed it, Glen Taylor pretty much told us that Wiggins is NOT on the table in the Kyrie discussions. See more on that here.

If that is the case, then what kind of package are the Wolves really able to offer? It would be a bunch of our bench guys plus 2 future 1st round picks which would both be toward the end of the 1st round. You would have to think the other teams in discussions are offering more than that.

Nonetheless, it definitely looks like Kyrie is still on his way out. Here is a video that I saw this morning with Kyrie and Steph Curry seemingly making fun of LeBron’s dancing on his workout video posted a couple weeks ago. Here is LeBron’s workout video first:

And here we have the video that recently surfaced with Steph and Kyrie:

We will continue to watch closely as things continue to burn down in Cleveland. It has been a weird time for the Wolves. Who knows, maybe Thibs will be able pull the sheet over LeBron and the Cavs, punch them in the face, and steal Kyrie before they realize he is gone?

Eric Strack @RealMNSportsFan




Updated 8/1/17 – 8:35 PM CT (Continue Scrolling for August 3 Update)

Every day that goes by, the likelihood of the Timberwolves being the team that lands Kyrie, gets smaller and smaller. Today on Twitter, Darren Wolfson confirmed that Andrew Wiggins is NOT on the table in talks with the Cavaliers. Yet the Cavs want Wiggins + more (beyond Aldrich’s $ to make the deal work financially):

So it looks like Minnesota won’t be Irving’s landing spot. That is ok. At least we never got this bitter when Marbury left (cleveland.com):

Eric Strack @RealMNSportsFan


Updated 8/3/17 1:30 PM CT

When I heard the reports that Wiggins was NOT on the table in the Irving deal, I was skeptical. The Wolves don’t get Kyrie without Wiggins right?

News just broke that cleared up my confusion and was what I was expecting to be the reasoning. It’s really the only thing that makes sense.

“I’m told Irving is not about to commit to any team at this point. He has two seasons left on his contract and wants to keep his options open.” – Terry Pluto




Kyrie Irving is NOT willing to promise an extension to ANY team he is traded to?!?!

It all makes sense now. Wiggins is about to sign a 5 year extension which will put him under Timberwolves’ control for 6 years. Kyrie is only guaranteed for 2. Now, the team that lands Irving in a trade will own his bird rights and will be able to offer him a bigger contract than any team he would sign with in free agency, no matter their cap situation. But NO TEAM can offer Irving more than Cleveland if he stays, since he has been there so long, so obviously money isn’t his biggest worry.

Without the guarantee of an extension, with the team he is dealt to, Kyrie becomes much less valuable as an asset. With only 2 years with Kyrie guaranteed, who is NOT on the table for other teams?

I still don’t think the Wolves have the best offer, even with this news. The Wolves’ entire 2016 bench + their next 2 draft picks isn’t a very good offer. But who knows…

I have thought the best offer available had Bledsoe included with Phoenix. After checking into it, Bledsoe is under contract the same amount of time as Irving (through 2018-2019). Is Bledsoe going to guarantee an extension to Cleveland? Doubtful with all the question marks around LeBron leaving after this season.

How does that get Cleveland anything out of Irving? It doesn’t.

Eric Strack @RealMNSportsFan
Sources: Cleveland.com – Terry Pluto, Spotrac

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