The Cleveland Cavaliers and Phoenix Suns have interest in executing a Kyrie Irving trade.

Eric Bledsoe has been a consistent player included in discussions.

The Suns also own Miami's first-round pick, which is partially protected in 2018. The Cavaliers are also seeking the inclusion of Josh Jackson in a trade. Phoenix has ruled out the possibility of trading Devin Booker.

"If that deal (Bledsoe, Miami first rounder and Jackson) for Irving was there, it'd be done by now," a league source with knowledge of the Cavs' thinking said.

Jackson cannot be traded until after August 4th.

Kyrie Irving agreed upon a five-year, $90 million max extension with the Cleveland Cavaliers 10 days before LeBron James returned to the franchise.

At that time in 2014, Irving reportedly "didn't particularly care for James to return to Cleveland."

After three straight trips to The Finals, Irving no longer wants to play alongside James.

“Kyrie isn’t saying he’s better than LeBron and should be seen that way,” a close confidant of Irving’s told ESPN. “He’s saying he’s not about to let LeBron ‘SON’ him … treating him like he’s the child and LeBron’s the father or big brother he’s supposed to look up to.

“Kyrie knows he’s a franchise-caliber talent. He wants to be treated like it. And he’s tired of hearing about what LeBron needs, and he’s damn sure tired of hearing LeBron sound like he always needs more. As if the crew they have isn’t enough.”

The Miami Heat have denied making an offer of Goran Dragic and Justise Winslow to the Cleveland Cavaliers for Kyrie Irving.

In the wake of that report, the Heat took the rare step under the leadership of Pat Riley of publicly denying that any offer, of any sort, had been made for Irving.

The Heat believe the Cavaliers are asking for too much in exchange for Irving.

Irving has three years remaining on a contract that pays $18.9 million this coming season.

The Indiana Pacers had Kyrie Irving as their No. 1 target when working on a Paul George trade in June.

The Pacers were willing to trade George for Irving straight-up, but the Cavaliers declined the offer several times.

Cleveland instead worked with the Pacers on a three-way trade involving Kevin Love going to the Denver Nuggets with Indiana getting a package centered around Gary Harris.

The deal fell apart when Cleveland refused to trade a future first round pick without any pick protections. The Cavaliers insisted on a lottery protection for the pick.

The Pacers pivoted to a deal with the Oklahoma City Thunder in which they acquired Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis.

Teams doing their due diligence on Kyrie Irving have received positive reports on his improved commitment to the game.

Irving has had a history of late nights and partying but he hasn't missed practices or shown up for shootarounds nursing an apparent hangover. 

Irving has picked his spots more wisely. 

"Go back through every team he's played on, talked to people involved -- or just study the results -- and it doesn't matter whether it was high school, college, USA development and national teams, and in the NBA -- and you see a pattern of him impacting winning," one Eastern Conference executive said. "There are questions about those first couple years before LeBron came back, but I think there were a lot of issues around there that were out of his control. That said, he didn't always help himself then either."

An old teammate of Irving's told one Western Conference GM: "He's an animal. Forget whatever you hear about him off the court, go get him."

There were approximately 20 teams who made inquiries to the Cleveland Cavaliers upon learning of Kyrie Irving's trade requests but far fewer have delivered legitimate proposals.

The San Antonio Spurs, Los Angeles Clippers, Phoenix Suns, Minnesota Timberwolves, New York Knicks and Miami Heat have made offers to the Cavaliers for Irving.

The Cavaliers are seeking a package similar to what the Denver Nuggets received for Carmelo Anthony in 2011. Denver acquired a combination of young players, win-now veterans and draft picks. Rival teams are instead looking at what the Wolves gave up for Jimmy Butler.

Koby Altman is taking a measured approach to negotiations.

"I'll say this about [Altman]," one rival GM interested in Irving told ESPN. "He isn't overwhelmed. He's showing real poise."

LeBron James has been in touch with the Cleveland Cavaliers but he hasn't been inquiring about any potential trade targets as they entertain offers for Kyrie Irving.

Irving has requested a trade this offseason.

James was reportedly surprised and disappointed by Irving's trade request.

Dan Gilbert believes the Indiana Pacers could have received a better trade package for Paul George than the one they agreed upon with the Oklahoma City Thunder.

"I will say that Indiana could've done better than it did," Gilbert said.

The Cleveland Cavaliers thought they had a deal in place to acquire George in a trade that would have sent Kevin Love to the Denver Nuggets, and Gary Harris as the centerpiece to the Pacers.

The Pacers, however, dispute there was ever an agreement, sources said.

"That's been well-publicized," Altman said of the George deal that fell through. "I don't want to talk about that. What's interesting is, over the course of the NBA draft, there's 60 picks. In the first round, there's five minutes between picks. I probably made 200 phone calls that night, and none of that gets publicized. We're actively trying to get better and discover what opportunities that are out there. It's the ones that sort of don't make it to the media that are the ones you're more crushed about.

"So, we're very active during that time. Also, we're aggressive in trying to figure out how can we get better for this organization. So, I'm not going to talk about that specific trade, but know that we were active during that time and every team in the NBA was active during that time, trying to help their respective franchises."

The Cleveland Cavaliers described the aftermath of Kyrie Irving's trade request as a "fluid" situation.

"He's a core piece of what we've done," Dan Gilbert said at Koby Altman's introductory news conference Wednesday. "Kyrie is a tremendous player. He has made great contributions to this franchise, and we enjoy him as a player and we're going to keep this stuff in house in terms of what was said in those meetings, but he continues to be a core piece of who we are and what we do."

Gilbert made it sound as though Irving could remain with the Cavaliers into the 17-18 season.

"Right now, Kyrie Irving is under contract with the Cleveland Cavaliers for two or three years, depending on the last year," Gilbert said, referring to the point guard's player option for 2019-20. "As of now, he's one of our best players, and sure, we expect him to be in camp."

"I think a lot of it has been overblown," Altman said. "I think the people who are in this building every day haven't seen any of that animosity. This is, along with Kevin Love, this is a group that got us to three straight Finals and won an NBA championship together. They play great together on the floor, and a lot of that I do think is overblown. We haven't seen a lot of that 'animosity' that's been out there in the media."

Carmelo Anthony continues to place the Houston Rockets as his top priority trade destination despite Kyrie Irving's request for a trade.

The Cleveland Cavaliers presumably have a clearer path to trading for Anthony due to the Irving request, but Anthony prefers the Rockets.

Some in the Knicks organization would trade Anthony and multiple first-round picks for Irving.

With the Rockets trading for Chris Paul and James Harden already signing an extension, their situation is more stable and attractive for Anthony than the Cavaliers.