The LeBron-Kyrie Dynasty That Never Was

Had the Cavs not lost the NBA Finals, Kyrie Irving probably wouldn’t have requested a trade.

However, the fact that Cleveland lost four games to one might have been even more of a deathblow to the organization.

History has shown over recent years, when a team loses 4 to 1, the reactions are usually extreme.

Let’s go back to 2012.

The Oklahoma City Thunder with a young core of Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and James Harden lost to the juggernaut Miami Heat four to one.

Roughly four months later, the Thunder sent Harden to the Houston Rockets for Kevin Martin and Jeremy Lamb, two first-round picks and a second-round pick. Oklahoma City also sent center Cole Aldrich and forwards Daequan Cook and Lazar Hayward to Houston.

Egos largely got in the way of team chemistry and Harden was unlikely to sign an extension.

Can you even imagine how different the NBA would look today if they found a way to make it work?

The Thunder may have went on to win multiple titles. Instead, they’re still searching for their first.

Golden State sure is grateful that didn’t work out.

Fast forward to 2014.

The San Antonio Spurs stomped the Heat four games to one. We all know what happened after that, as Lee Jenkins published his story with LeBron James’ homecoming letter.

The rest is history.

The Heat would have an aging core by now and Chris Bosh’s health issues would have severely hampered Miami’s title hopes, but between 2015 and 2017, it’s probably safe to say Miami had a chance to add at least one more ring if LeBron stayed.

A team that LeBron claimed would win “not one, not two, not three, not four, not five, not six…” ended up with two.

Can you even call the Miami Heat a dynasty? They went to four straight Finals, but two titles doesn’t quite have the same ring to it as the Spurs and Lakers of the 2000’s, the Showtime Lakers of the 80’s, or of course the 90’s Bulls and 60’s Celtics. Those were dynasties. The Heat will always wonder what could have been if they kept it together longer.

So here we sit in the present.

The Cavs lost four to one. All chaos ensues. Kyrie Irving requests a trade. LeBron’s future in Cleveland is unclear.

By all accounts of reporters plugged into the situation, Irving and LeBron are too far along to make up. It’s not impossible, but at least right now, no one with direct knowledge of the parties involved believes they’re going to make this work.

Trying to make it work might not even be the right decision. Perhaps Irving will be better off seeking what his heart and mind are telling him to do and the Cavs can somehow end up on the right side of a trade, improving their chances of avenging the 2017 Finals.

Either way, the LeBron-Kyrie dynasty that never was appears to be at the end of the road. Had Irving and Kevin Love not been injured in 2015, we could be talking about a whole different story. If the Cavs don’t come back from a 3-1 deficit in 2016, maybe the Warriors never sign Durant. But what happened happened and here we are.

There’s still a sliver of hope for the Cavs dynasty though. If Cleveland pulls off the upset against Golden State in 2018, LeBron re-ups in 2018 and the Cavs go on to win multiple additional titles, it would become LeBron’s dynasty more than anything. Because let’s be honest… What were the Cavs without LeBron? Even with a promising rising star in Kyrie?

A lot of Cavs fans didn’t even bother watching back then and the ones who did are all too aware of how bad the team was.

The good news for Cavs fans is the drop off isn’t going to be as significant with Irving gone as if the tables were turned and LeBron was leaving Kyrie.

Can the Cavs win a second championship in four years with whatever pieces they acquire in a potential Irving trade? Will Carmelo Anthony join forces with LeBron to keep the dynasty hopes alive with another former star Derrick Rose?

It’ll be interesting to watch play out, but there will always be questions of what Irving and LeBron could have gone on to accomplish if they stuck it out.

If LeBron does leave in 2018, the next question will be what ever happened to the Cavaliers supposed dynasty that never came to fruition.

Most Clevelanders believed it was a surefire dynasty in the making the second LeBron announced his decision to come home (myself included).

Kyrie was a big part of it, but he wasn’t the one most responsible for making basketball relevant in Cleveland. If LeBron didn’t come back, who knows if the Cavs would have even sniffed the Playoffs by now?

His 4-13 record without LeBron on the court doesn’t bode well and LeBron still led the Cavs to Game 6 of the Finals in 2015 without Love and for the most part without Irving.

The Shot will never be forgotten. Irving’s 2016 Playoffs will never be forgotten. But where was he in the 2017 Finals, while LeBron was averaging a triple-double with 33.6 points per game?

Unhappy he wasn’t the focal point.

So what happened to the Cavs’ dynasty that never was? The Golden State Warriors happened. As much as Cleveland sports fans can’t stand it, this stretch of NBA history will be looked back upon as the Warriors dynasty, barring some extremely unexpected developments.

If there’s one thing we’ve learned from all the hectic soap opera episodes of the NBA, just stay tuned. You never know what will happen next.