By sending Kyrie Irving to Boston in return for Isaiah Thomas, Jae Crowder, and the Brooklyn Nets’ 2018 first-round pick, the Cleveland Cavaliers have made the East more a lot more interesting. On the surface, it looks as though the Cavs got a shorter, older version of Kyrie in order to cure their locker room issues, but the key part of this deal is how the balance of power for the Eastern Conference’s future has shifted.
76ers
Danny Ainge has finally parted ways with one of his coveted assets to bring an established star to his team in the form of Kyrie Irving, but giving up that Nets pick has added Cleveland into the mix of teams who will dominate the East within the next five years, who join the Philadelphia 76ers, Milwaukee Bucks, and the Celtics in that category.