Koby Altman had been general manager of the Cleveland Cavaliers for less than 24 hours before Kyrie Irving's trade request was reported.

Altman had to immediately seek trade options for a perennial All-Star while maintaining a title contender without giving up their future with LeBron James potentially entering free agency.

"There's no manual I was given to say, 'Hey, take over this team that's been to three straight Finals, and oh, you have the best player in the world, and you need to manage that and try to get him back,'" Altman told ESPN. "There's no manual for that. I say it's incredibly hard, I think they're all hard. Each job is hard."

Altman was raised in Brooklyn and took an unlikely path to become an NBA general manager where he was a Division III basketball player.

"The summer was chaotic and difficult, and at times agonizing. There was a black cloud over it. Being back at practice now you realize, wow, this is fun again. This is why I'm doing this."

Altman is the second-youngest GM in the NBA at the age of 35.

"You don't realize the magnitude of the job until you get it, and you don't realize who you touch until you get it," he says. "I've had a lot of people reach out to me about how meaningful it is for African-American youth to see me in that position. I know from my own friends that say: Listen, this is a really big deal."