Report: Cavs Unable to Contact Kyrie Irving

The Cavaliers haven’t been able to speak to their disgruntled point guard.

Kyrie Irving has not spoken with the Cavaliers in the wake of his trade request, The Athletic’s Jason Lloyd reports. 

In a column published Thursday morning (subscribe here) Lloyd compares the current instability with Irving—and the potential departure of LeBron James next summer—to the situation in the 2010 off-season, when LeBron left for Miami. 

“Therein lies at least one huge difference between now and 2010: James is still helping to recruit players to Cleveland,” Lloyd writes. “He was instrumental in swaying Derrick Rose and Jeff Green in recent weeks. He was unreachable during the summer of 2010, something Irving is now. The Cavs have unsuccessfully tried to contact Irving, multiple sources with knowledge of the situation told The Athletic, but he is not talking to anyone from the organization.​”

Graphic by Bryce Wood

News broke on Friday that Irving had asked the Cavs to be traded, apparently because he’s grown tired of playing in LeBron’s shadow, and the story has spun out of control ever since. The Cavaliers also hired a new general manager—promoting Koby Altman from assistant GM—shortly after the news leaked, so they have plenty of reasons to want to speak with Kyrie. 

ESPN’s Chris Haynes reported that Cleveland was “disturbed” Irving’s desire to leave was made public and the news cycle was dominated early in the week by reports that James wants Irving gone. There was even a rumor from Stephen A. Smith that LeBron “would be tempted to beat [Kyrie’s] ass.” James shot down both stories.