When Kyrie Irving made his shock trade request to the Cleveland Cavaliers in the summer, he presented them with four teams he would like to join.The New York Knicks, Minnesota Timberwolves, Miami Heat or San Antonio Spurs were the franchises the point guard was interested in securing a trade to.This never materialized, however, as the Cavs sent the 25-year-old to the Boston Celtics in a deal that saw them acquire Isaiah Thomas, Jae Crowder, Ante Zizic and multiple draft picks.Irving ended up in a better situation than he could've hoped for as he's the leader of one of the most talented and exciting young teams in the league.But things could've worked out so differently as one of the teams on his initial list made a huge effort to land him.According to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, the Spurs tried to acquire Kyrie in the offseason as they are seeking a long-term replacement for veteran Tony Parker."San Antonio tried really, really hard to make a trade for him. And that was the initial goal, to play for Pop [Gregg Popovich]. It wasn’t about big market," Wojnarowski said.

This revelation comes in the wake of several stories emerging this week about Irving's relationship with the Cavaliers and why he eventually decided to leave.

In an interview with ESPN's Jackie McMullan, the four-time All-Star claimed that the Ohio-based outfit no longer wanted him and this ultimately led to his departure.

"[Leaving] was inevitable," he said. "I could feel it. They didn't want me there."

McMullan also revealed that Cleveland explored the possibility of trading Irving and was interested in pulling off a three-team deal with the Phoenix Suns and Indiana Pacers that would've landed them Eric Bledsoe and Paul George.

But with the silky ball-handler now thriving at the top of the Eastern Conference with the Celtics, fans in San Antonio can only dream about what life would've been like with 'Uncle Drew' and Kawhi Leonard on the same team under Popovich.

Kyrie is one of the best scorers in the NBA and would've helped to ease the load on Leonard and provided the Spurs that extra flair and star power.

With Parker now aged 35, the franchise has been actively seeking another player to take over as their floor general and showed interested in Chris Paul and Kyle Lowry too.

The Spurs are as competitive as ever in the west this year but with their stars aging, it's time to look to the future and bring in enough talent to challenge the likes of the Golden State Warriors and Houston Rockets and not be left behind.