CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The Cavaliers and Celtics agreed on a trade to send four-time All-Star Kyrie Irving to rival Boston for two-time All-Star Isaiah Thomas, wing Jae Crowder, rookie center Ante Zizic and the Brooklyn Nets' unprotected No. 1 draft pick next summer.
Imagine that. Irving will still open the 2017-18 season in Cleveland. The Cavs and Celtics play the first game of the NBA's schedule at The Q on Oct. 17.
Think fans will remind him he asked out of Cleveland?
The Cavs acted on Irving's July request to move him, two years before he hits free agency, so he can escape LeBron James' shadow, by netting a significant return that includes not only the NBA's third-leading scorer in Thomas (an All-NBA selection last season) but two players and Brooklyn's No. 1 pick in 2018.
The Celtics are sending Crowder, a 6-6 wing defender, 20-year-old center Zizic, who played for former Cavs coach David Blatt in Turkey last season, and that coveted No. 1 pick to Cleveland.
Thomas, 28, averaged a career-high 28.9 points per game last season but could not finish the 2017 Eastern Conference finals against the Cavs because of a hip injury. He's been an All-Star the past two seasons and is entering the final year of his contract.
By landing the Brooklyn pick -- which the Celtics acquired years ago in a trade for Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett -- the Cavs could wind up with the No. 1 overall selection next year. It's a shiny nugget, whether James chooses to stay past this season or not.
Irving will forever be known in Cleveland for at least two things, beginning with his 3-pointer with 53 seconds left in Game 7 of the 2016 Finals. It broke an 89-all tie with the Warriors in a championship game the Cavs would win 93-89.
The victory was of course the franchise's first and the city's first in any major professional sport since 1964. Irving was among those who delivered it.
Secondly, he'll be remembered for asking to be traded away from James and Kevin Love, breaking up the Big 3 in Cleveland after three consecutive Finals berths with a fourth a distinct possibility.
It's perhaps an unfair inclusion in Irving's Cavs epitaph, as Cleveland both tried to trade Love for Paul George and drew up a potential deal to ship Irving out in June, before Irving ever asked for it.
ESPN said the deal would lower Cleveland's luxury tax bill for next season from a projected $78.4 million to $59.2 million.
The Celtics, who already upgraded this offseason by signing Gordon Hayward as a free agent, have been interested in Irving since word spread in July that he wanted out of Cleveland. Boston succeeded in acquiring Irving without dealing away Jayson Tatum, the No. 3 pick in June, but lost a captain in Thomas and a perennial starter in Crowder.
Irving is due to make $18.9 million this season. Thomas will make $6.3 million. Crowder has three seasons left on his deal and will make $6.8 million this season.
Irving waived his trade kicker - a salary escalator in the event he is traded - to help facilitate the deal.
Thomas has a relationship with Cavs coach Tyronn Lue -- the two communicated after Thomas' sister died during the 2017 playoffs. Thomas scored 53 points on his late sister's birthday.
"Just a tough guy," Lue said of Thomas. "You know, being small and always being the smaller guy playing overmatched and oversized, playing point. He's a tough competitor, and to do what he's doing right now throughout the course of these playoffs, having gone through a tough situation and a tough time, just shows who he is and the character he has."
But Thomas' injured hip remains a concern. Though Thomas announced he would not have surgery and would be ready for camp (this was when he played for the Celtics), Boston coach Brad Stevens told the Vertical: "We still don't know. He has another follow up and another scan in the early part of September when he arrives back here out east. From there we will know the exact timeline."
Irving was the No. 1 pick by the Cavs from the 2011 draft (for comparison's sake, Thomas was the 60th overall pick that year). Irving averaged 21.6 points and 5.5 assists over his six seasons here. Like Thomas, he averaged a career-high last season with 25.2 points.
Unlike Thomas, Irving rocked the entire NBA by asking Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert to trade him with two years remaining on his contract. He wanted to play away from James' considerable shadow and become the focal point of a franchise.
Crowder is 6-6 and averaged 13.9 points and 5.8 rebounds last season, near or at career-high levels.
Zizic, 20, is a rookie who was drafted by the Celtics in 2016 and played for Blatt in Turkey last season. He is 6-11 and averaged nine points and 6.7 rebounds in 20 Euroleague games.
The Celtics brought him to Boston this summer and he joined the Celtics for their Las Vegas Summer League schedule.