The Cavaliers lost the Kyrie Irving trade. They also made the best available Kyrie Irving trade, solely because of the one asset Cleveland held onto during Thursday's borderline unprecedented two-hour frenzy: the Nets pick, which could enter the lottery anywhere from No. 1 to No. 8. (Seriously: Look how close the standings are at the bottom.)
Once Cleveland's dream scenario of landing both Eric Bledsoe and Paul George fell apart around the draft, no other team was offering anything so valuable for Irving -- veteran, young guy, draft pick, whatever. Perhaps the Cavs should have decided to ignore Irving's trade request, but they didn't, and they arrived at this trade deadline with an old, mediocre, miserable, and ill-fitting team at grave risk of falling on its face well in advance of the Finals -- and then watching the second-greatest player of all time leave.