Kyrie Irving ‘Very Badly’ Wants to Play for Knicks

When is the last time you heard anyone say they 'very badly' want to play for the Knicks? Or even say they had a mild desire to play for the James Dolan owned team? According to ESPN's Pablo Torre, "a trustworthy person" says Irving "very badly wants to be a New York Knick. Kyrie Irving wants to come home." Irving played his high school basketball at St. Patrick's in New Jersey.

Carmelo Anthony is the last guy I can remember forcing his way to New York and look at how that has turned out. Now, we can lay plenty of blame at Phil Jackson's feet, perhaps the majority of it, but it isn't like Melo was a great recruiter of free agents during his time in the Big Apple.

With Anthony's time in a Knicks uniform seemingly destined to come to an end this summer (or early fall), Kyrie Irving may be the next in line to try to 'save' the franchise which hasn't won an NBA title since 1973.

Senior writer for ESPN.com and FiveThirtyEight Chris Herring lends his insight on the likelihood Irving gets his wish to play for the Knicks.