Could the Miami Heat somehow land Kyrie Irving?
The Boston Celtics exited the playoffs on Wednesday at the hands of the Milwaukee Bucks. With Kyrie Irving set be a free agent, could the Miami Heat be in the mix for his services?
The Boston Celtics and the Miami Heat have something in common at this current moment, they are both out of the NBA playoffs. To make things worse for the Celtics though, it happened rather easily for the Milwaukee Bucks. Kyrie Irving didn’t seem all that happy for most of the season in Boston, and he surely didn’t after Wednesday night’s game.
With the trending thought being that Kyrie will leave Boston as a free agent, where will he land? Do the Miami Heat have any semblance of a shot to land the enigmatic superstar? Before looking to the future though, let’s take a look at the recent past.
Once upon a time, Kyrie Irving was the toast of Cleveland, well at least the second slice to LeBron James. It was after winning a title with the Chosen One that Irving decided it was time for him to spread his own wings, in search of an opportunity to create his very own legacy.
As the saying goes however, and even though he would go on to be among the leprechauns and emerald clovers of the Boston Celtics, the grass isn’t always greener on the other side. During the 2017-2018 season, which was his first in Boston, Irving found himself injured for what would be a Boston Celtic run to the Eastern Conference Finals.
Although the Celtics would eventually lose to Irving’s old team in the Cleveland Cavaliers, this was seen as a positive step in the right direction. This was such a positive step for a team of young players, that the return of All-Stars like Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward was supposed to be more than enough to get them over the hump, and hopefully in contention for titles.
Fast forward to this season, and things didn’t go quite as many in Boston had hoped for. The season was a tumultuous one in which they always seemed to have something going on surrounding the team. They were very inconsistent, which inevitably brought the criticism, but it was believed that they would get things together entering the playoffs.
Many thought they had after they swept an undermanned Indiana Pacers team in the first round of the playoffs, but Giannis Antetokounmpo and his Milwaukee Bucks had different plans. After dropping the first game to the Boston Celtics in Milwaukee, the Bucks would go on to win the next four straight in a gentleman’s sweep, including back to back wins in Boston for games three and four.
Even after the fourth game was played in Boston, many wondered aloud whether we had just seen Kyrie Irving’s last game in Boston Garden. You can only imagine the rumblings after they wound up dropping the entire series. Rightfully so, but the question still remains, has Irving played his last game as a Boston Celtic?
With that in mind, could the Miami Heat land him? It would take the moving of mountains for the Miami Heat front office to work out such a feat, but it is possible.
Although there would be a myriad of moves that would have to take place, the Miami Heat organization has a history of being able and willing to do the impossible. Here are a few scenarios.
The Miami Heat are currently waiting on option decisions from two of their higher paid players in Hassan Whiteside and Goran Dragic. If they opted out, along with waiving (via the stretch provision) Ryan Anderson and his contract, it could clear about half of the space it would take to sign Irving. If they were then willing to renounce their rights to a player or possibly waive a player, they could perhaps gather up enough capital to get him to listen.
Another way to get this done would require a bit of help from the Celtics and Kyrie Irving alike. If all three parties here, the Celtics, the Miami Heat, and Kyrie Irving could find a way to come up with a sign and trade of some sort, that would probably be the easiest way.
The difficult part here would be figuring out a package worthy enough to make the Celtics interested in helping to facilitate such a deal. Although either of the two above options are long shots, there is a slight chance that they could happen.
All in all, it doesn’t look very likely that Irving will end up with the Miami Heat, but there is a slight chance, so who knows what could happen. One thing is certain though and that’s if he would ever want to one-up his old pal LeBron James, which seems high on his list of priorities, winning for the Miami Heat would be a way to do it.
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Besides, LeBron is having such fun imaginably with the Los Angeles Lakers scenario at the moment, that Kyrie Irving landing with the Miami Heat would seem rather poetic. Again though, there is a slim chance of it occurring and mainly due to finances. There is still a chance however, and you can expect Pat Riley to explore those chances.