5 trade destinations for Kyrie Irving, now that he wants to leave Cleveland

3

Minnesota Timberwolves

West, Northwest

Are the Minnesota Timberwolves about to be a juggernaut in the Western Conference overnight? Well, let’s pump the brakes for a second. Minnesota hasn’t made the NBA Playoffs since 2004. Just getting into the top eight in the West would be a huge accomplishment for the young pups in 2018.

But what if Irving went to the Timberwolves? How could that even happen? Obviously, starting point guard Jeff Teague has to be going to Cleveland. Teague is a great offensive player, but not the best defensively. He is a older, worse version of Irving in a nutshell. Shoot, the Cavaliers might even ask for Andrew Wiggins back, who knows?

If the Timberwolves had a big three of Irving, Jimmy Butler and Karl-Anthony Towns, is that the second-best team in the Western Conference? Seriously, that trio would be incredible to watch go to work. Add in Taj Gibson coming up big on the glass and head coach Tom Thibodeau getting fired up about getting back on defense, and this becomes the best NBA League Pass in history.

Minnesota has the assets to make the deal. The Cavaliers and Timberwolves have already made one blockbuster trade before. So what’s Kevin Love got to do with it this time? Who knows, but what if they straight up undo the Love/Wiggins trade in the Irving trade? Twitter will crash, period.

Irving did list the Timberwolves as one of the four destinations he’d prefer. The only thing holding this back might be Cleveland’s reluctance to do a deal with the Timberwolves after the Love/Wiggins trade. In short, Minnesota would be an amazing destination for him, but a complicated trade to pull off.