The funny thing is it didn’t really crash the way one might have expected it to, given who’s involved. At least from what I saw (don’t know if the numbers would back this up), Irving was actually playing very well and not in a way likely to cause chemistry problems. He wasn’t ball hogging, he was picking his spots and scoring efficiently, I guess similar to the Kyrie that found a role alongside Harden and KD.
That’s not to say it wouldn’t crash and burn longer term if he stayed, but short term it seemed to work well enough.
Their problem, which was also predictable and predicted, was of course a terrible defense meaning that they need to be historically good on the other end, and the fact that the trade stripped them of any assets they might have had to address that imbalance. I also got the impression Luka was not at his best those few games before they started tanking, and they needed him to be, they have no margin for error.
I guess this likely 10th pick is an asset, but who the feck knows what they do with the Kyrie situation. Can they afford not to re-sign him?