4 winners and 3 losers from the Kyrie Irving blockbuster trade to the Celtics

The Kyrie Irving trade to the Celtics for Isaiah Thomas broke Twitter Tuesday night. Around 6 p.m. ET, news came out that Boston and Cleveland were in talks about a deal, and just over an hour later, the biggest trade of the summer was complete.

When the dust cleared, the Cavs haul was revealed, and it was bigger than any they could have hoped for. They received Thomas, Jae Crowder, Ante Zizic, and the Nets’ unprotected 2018 first-round pick. That pick is expected to be a high lottery one in a very talented draft class.

Wherever the draft lottery places them, the Cavs could have a key piece in their rebuild in top European prospect Luka Doncic, Missouri’s Michael Porter Jr., Duke’s recent reclassified forward phenom, Marvin Bagley, or any other highly-coveted teen.

The Celtics also got a player they didn’t think would be possible to grab a few months ago, and on paper look ready to compete with Cleveland now.

Neither the Celtics or Cavaliers become immediately better than the Warriors after this trade, but both sides made improvements they deemed necessary in both the short- and long-term.

Here are Tuesday’s winners and losers:

This trade is everything Irving could’ve asked for and more. Not only does he get to take the reins of a big-market team, it’s a GOOD big-market team that has a plan in place to compete in the Finals in year one. He’ll have support from Gordon Hayward and Al Horford, but the ball is his to make the most of. He’s second-fiddle to none now.

Cleveland made a solid deal that adds to its current team while also looking into the post-LeBron James age. Thomas and Irving are close to a flush as similar high-usage offensive stars with glaring defensive troubles, but the addition of Crowder will be big in improving the Cavs’ depth issues. The Nets’ 2018 draft pick is the true prize though, and that could go a long way in their rebuild.

Gobert isn’t on either of these teams but he won the often-challenged Petty Award. He and Thomas got into a Twitter spat back in July when Gordon Hayward was still a free agent picking between the Jazz and Celtics. Hayward chose Thomas’ side ... a side Thomas is no longer on. Gobert made sure to retweet Thomas’ post from two months ago to worsen the burn.

Those people accidentally scheduled the Cavaliers and Celtics as the season opener. Holy crap that was LUCK.

Guess who picked one of the guys who got traded a month before the game’s release to be the cover athlete. Oooops.

That’s gonna take a lot of fixing. Hope the copies haven’t published yet.

James finally responded to Irving’s departure on Twitter, but it was actually nice. Boo.

The man’s account got roasted by Gobert, but even worse, someone found one of his old tweets about his newest teammate.

For the millionth time ...

DELETE YOUR TWEETS.