Nuggets: Why Denver should pursue a trade for Kyrie Irving

The Denver Nuggets may not be able to complete a trade with the Cleveland Cavaliers for Kyrie Irving, but here’s the case for why they should try.

Kyrie Irving wants a trade from the Cleveland Cavaliers so he can stop playing with LeBron James and be the focal point of an offense elsewhere. Even though Irving led the Cavs in field goal attempts last season and still produced 25.2 points per game (not to mention 29.4 in this year’s Finals against the Golden State Warriors), he seems to want more. With this change of heart and sudden availability, should the Denver Nuggets pursue a trade for Irving?

For a start, we already know they’re interested. It’s safe to say Irving is worlds better than Jameer Nelson and Emmanuel Mudiay, so it’s not surprising that the Nuggets are reportedly going to contact the Cavs about a trade, presumably just to express their interest and gauge the asking price.

I haven’t written this article to survey the reasons why Irving to Denver doesn’t make sense. I’m not going to spend too much time going over the Nuggets not being one of the four reported teams Irving asked to be traded to (the New York Knicks, Miami Heat, San Antonio Spurs and Minnesota Timberwolves), why there’s probably a small chance of a trade actually happening, how Irving doesn’t help the team’s defense, or how he could skew the team’s offensive style that revolves around Nikola Jokic‘s incredible passing.

Instead, I’m simply going make the case for why the Nuggets should pursue Irving and how he could help the team.

Let’s get started with the obvious: the benefits of his isolation play and much-needed ball handling.