Cleveland Cavaliers: What would it take to send Kyrie Irving to the Orlando Magic?

If the Cleveland Cavaliers were to trade point guard Kyrie Irving, trading him to the Florida team he does not prefer would be a fit.

Speculation and uncertainty continues to surrounds Cleveland Cavaliers and Kyrie Irving. Although he wants out of Cleveland, moving on from Irving does not benefit the Cavaliers.

However, if Cleveland did trade him, especially to a non-preferred destination, how about a team that has not been speculated yet? Cleveland could send Irving to the Orlando Magic.

Irving goes to Florida, but not to the Miami Heat like he wanted and the Cavaliers receive in return two potential impact players.

Which players exactly? I am glad you asked.

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Via ESPN‘s NBA trade machine, this hypothetical trade would work: Cleveland sends Irving, while Orlando trades point guard Elfrid Payton and center Nikola Vucevic.

Now, how likely is this exact trade or something like this? It’s certainly possible, but it just depends on your point of view. At the end of the day, don’t count on it, but this scenario does benefit both sides.

Orlando would get Irving, who would be their number one option. Orlando is in a work in progress organization at the moment, but they have a bright future. The only catch is that they have to give up two younger players.

Cleveland gets a point guard in Payton who would defer to forward LeBron James. Per basketball-reference.com, Payton averaged 6.5 assists/ game last season.

There are questions to his game, but over time fans will see their questions answered. The same could be said about Irving, who showed some promise early on winning rookie of the year, among other achievements, but could he be content with being one of the guys rather than “the” guy? That answer is known.

Irving arguably did not reach the level of success he has achieved until he played with James. Meanwhile, Cleveland finally gets a true center.

Vucevic, 26, could come off the bench, but is better suited to start. It would depend on if the Cavaliers were to follow up this trade by trading power forward/center Tristan Thompson.

Per basketball-reference.com, Vucevic averaged 14.6 points and 10.4 rebounds last season. Any day Cleveland could trade Irving. However, since he is under contract for multiple years still, any deal is likely not going to happen until next offseason at the earliest.

Next: Irving's trade request makes perfect sense

Things could change in an instant, but while we wait, sitting back and reviewing all of the what if scenarios Cleveland could get back in return is very exciting to think about.

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