Kyrie Irving Trade Rumors: Cavs 'Would Love' Devin Booker in a Deal

[Stephan Bobb]

Kyrie Irving Trade Rumors: Cavs 'Would Love' Devin Booker in a Deal

TIMOTHY RAPPAUGUST 3, 2017

Ross D. Franklin/Associated Press

According to Terry Pluto of Cleveland.com, the Cleveland Cavaliers would love to acquire Phoenix Suns shooting guard Devin Booker in a trade forKyrie Irving, but Booker "is as close to untouchable as anyone on the Suns roster."

Pluto also noted that, "The Suns would love to put together a package with Brandon Knight, T.J. Warren and [Eric] Bledsoe for Irving and some others such as Iman Shumpert or Channing Frye to make it work on the salary cap. That has little appeal to the Cavs."

Finally, he wrote that the Suns don't want to include rookie Josh Jackson in any deal for Irving, though they might be "tempted at some point" to give him up in a prospective trade.

It's hard to imagine any scenario in which the Suns would give up Booker for Irving.

Booker is five years younger than Irving and still on his rookie deal. As a 20-year-old, he just averaged 22.1 points per game. Given that the team's young core isn't ready to compete for the postseason at this point, why give up your best young player for a player like Irving hitting his prime?

Pairing Irving and Booker, on the other hand, would give the Suns one of the more dynamic backcourts in the NBA. While it's hard to imagine the Cavs agreeing to a deal that didn't include both Bledsoe and Jackson, a young core of Irving, Booker, Dragan Bender and Marquese Chriss would be intriguing.

While that team probably wouldn't compete for a playoff spot in the loaded Western Conference next season, they would be a very appealing potential attraction for free agents next summer. That could expedite Phoenix's rebuild, though at the risk of giving up a player like Jackson on the hope that Irving would sign long-term in Phoenix