Last Tuesday night, the Cavaliers and Celtics made official – but not complete – their trade of Kyrie Irving for Isaiah Thomas, Jae Crowder, Ante Zizic and the Nets’ 2018 first-round pick. On the trade call, the teams presumably set schedules for physicals and ruling on them.

With Thomas’ hip causing concern in Cleveland, that schedule is suddenly of the utmost importance.

Now, we have an idea on timing.

Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com:

A Cavs source said the two sides need to reach a conclusion by Wednesday evening or mutually agree to extend the deadline. Though the Cavs could void the trade based on Thomas’ injury, sources still expect a deal to get done.

The teams could easily delay the deadline, but if the Celtics are truly drawing a line in the sand with Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown or any other first-round pick, they could stick to Wednesday evening. Of course, that might be more of the posturing we’ve seen from both sides.

If it comes to it, the Cavs could always void the trade and still negotiate with Boston on a revised deal. But who’s to say the Celtics would even leave the original offer on the table?

Wednesday is a soft deadline, but a deadline nonetheless. Those are always helpful in finding resolution, though obviously not as much as hard deadlines.