The Cleveland Cavaliers have suddenly gotten cold feet with a trade they agreed to that would send Kyrie Irving to the Boston Celtics, and the health of Isaiah Thomas is the reason for that. But if the Cavs have learned nothing new in the past week, what’s the holdup?
In an appearance on The Vertical Podcast with Chris Mannix this week, Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald said he was told the Cavaliers learned nothing new about Thomas’ injured hip when they conducted the All-Star point guard’s physical.
“My read is actually from the Cleveland side, and what I hear from there is that nothing they’ve found is anything different than what was conveyed to the Cavaliers in the trade discussions, and certainly in the medical information that was passed forward,” Bulpett said, as transcribed by Tom Westerholm of MassLive.com.
Bulpett is a Boston-based reporter, so it’s interesting that he noted his information came “from the Cleveland side.” If the Cavs are trying to get the Celtics to add something to the trade, their only argument could be that they were misled from the start.
There’s been no word on whether Cleveland has made a formal request to the Celtics, but it is highly unlikely that Danny Ainge is going to add anything of significant value to the Irving deal. Boston is already giving up Thomas, Jae Crowder, Ante Zizic and the Brooklyn Nets’ 2018 first-round pick, which has a great chance at becoming the top overall pick in the draft.
With Thomas potentially set to miss the start of next season, perhaps the Cavs simply failed to think things through. But if they think they’re going to get one of Boston’s two potential young stars in the trade by jamming on the brakes, they are sorely mistaken.
