The Cleveland Cavaliers are attempting to have the Boston Celtics add either Jaylen Brown or Jayson Tatum to the Kyrie Irving for Isaiah Thomas, Jae Crowder, Ante Zizic and Brooklyn's 2018 first round pick.
After the Cavaliers examined Thomas, they began seeking an amended trade price for Irving. Thomas suffered a hip injury in May and may not be ready for the start of the season.
“Now, Cleveland is going to try to inquire about a couple of the Celtics’ young players, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, who they tried to get in the original trade, that is very unlikely,” Adrian Wojnarowski said. “But Boston still has a war chest of future first-round picks of their own, and some picks they control from other teams, and Cleveland is going to try to get one more of those to finalize this deal.”
Wojnarowski added the Celtics will resist improving their offer for Irving.
“Boston is resisting, and are going to initially at least, resist this idea,” Wojnarowski said. “Boston believes that it was completely transparent with Cleveland about where Thomas was physically, his rehab. Cleveland’s version of this is that they didn’t realize how long Thomas could potentially be out this season. He’s in the final year of his contract, and obviously, that matches up with what will likely be the final year of LeBron’s current deal, and so there’s going to be a showdown here between these two teams that may last a couple more days.”
