8 biggest sports break-ups of 2017
A number of high-profile athletes ended up wearing different uniforms than they started 2017 with. We're revisiting the biggest break-ups in sports, from most controversial to downright friendly.
1. Kyrie Irving-Cavaliers (and by consequence, Isaiah Thomas-Celtics)
Cleveland had a bit of hectic offseason, with the team parting ways with David Griffin in June and leaving a bit of a hole in the organization enough that news that Kyrie Irving wanted to be traded was publicized before the team had worked out a trade or even reportedly given some key people on said team a heads up.
This got so messy. There were tweets, possible subtweets, so many questions about just how much and if/why Kyrie hated LeBron James.
Finally, a trade came through: The Celtics sent Isaiah Thomas and Jae Crowder to the Cavaliers, which made Thomas pretty upset. Then, fans learned that Thomas would have to sit out because of a hip injury, which made fans a little angry too.
Then, Irving said goodbye to Cleveland in a sort of weird video which was just one of the weird things he said this year.
2. Neymar-Barcelona
You know when you've invested $100 million in someone and then they just decide to go somewhere else for a better offer?
Yeah, this was … frosty.
3. Giancarlo Stanton-Marlins
"All my teammates & coaching Staff that battled day in and day out I feel for u fans, you've stuck with me as we've shared some roller coaster years. I've always tried to be as professional as possible during the unprofessional , circus times there!"
Ouch.
A post shared by Giancarlo Stanton (@giancarlo818) on Dec 11, 2017 at 9:14am PST
4. Mike and Mike
Luckily, Trey Wingo and Mike Golic seem to be getting along just fine after what seemed to be a rocky end to the long-running ESPN morning show.
5. Carmelo Anthony-Knicks
By the end, it wasn't that bitter - Carmelo Anthony had outlasted Phil Jackson, the team's former president who tried to institute a triangle offense, said sort of terrible things about Anthony (even though he was the one who gave him a contract with a no-trade clause) and insulted Anthony's friends on top of all of that. Anthony was honored by his former team when he returned this month and both sides have mostly continued to say nice things about each other.
But when Jackson was still around? It got ugly.
From an ESPN report published this week, which included an anecdote about Jackson trying to get the team into "mindfulness training":
During the sessions, Jackson instructed the Knicks to sit on the edge of their chairs, eyes closed, and count to 10. Breathing in and out, the objective was to clear the mind. They repeated the process several times. Some players were dutiful in the exercise, some indifferent and some downright mocking of its worth, team members said. As Jackson's relationship with Anthony deteriorated, so did Melo's commitment to mindfulness training. In the final sessions, witnesses said, it became common for Jackson to tell the players to open their eyes at the end of the exercise, only to find Anthony's head tilted back, eyes still shut, seemingly snoozing.
6. Paul George-Pacers
We're still waiting on who is the actual winner of this split.
7. Jahlil Okafor-76ers
An original building block of The Process, it was clear by the start of the 2017 season that Okafor's time in Philadelphia was over. It became so uncomfortable to watch that there was a Twitter campaign calling for Okafor to be free of the 76ers, and finally he was sent to … the Nets. But it's still not all good between the two sides.
"A lot of the guys are in midseason form, where I feel like I'm at the start of the season because I haven't really played," Okafor told the New York Post this week. "I have to catch up to a lot of guys.
"That's why I'm happy I'm here with the actual NBA coaching staff that's taking care of me every day. When I was in Philly I was figuring it out on my own. I had my own trainer [Rick Lewis] that I've been working with since eighth grade working me out. But it's a different level when you're actually working with an NBA staff."
8. Jimmy Garoppolo and the Patriots
This was the friendliest break-up. The Patriots told the world that Tom Brady would be their quarterback long enough that it was unwise to keep Jimmy Garoppolo around for emergencies and reportedly even stopped him from going to the Browns, where a number of QB careers have died. Instead, they sent him - along with nice words from Bill Belichick - to the 49ers, where he seems to be doing just fine.
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