Getty JaVale McGee of the Los Angeles Lakers.
It should come as no surprise that the Los Angeles Lakers are one of the most active teams in these weeks leading up to the free agency period. One of the biggest free agent targets is LeBron James‘ former sidekick, Kyrie Irving – though former Laker JaVale McGee said he might have other plans.
Irving is coming off a forgettable year with the Boston Celtics where he and Gordon Hayward were re-inserted onto an already loaded team that made an Eastern Conference Finals run with both on the shelf. The Celtics struggled to find a rhythm with Irving and Hayward added to the mix and suffered a very forgettable second-round exit in the playoffs.
Lakers’ JaVale McGee Says Kyrie Irving ‘Wants to go to Brooklyn’
While initially asked about Kevin Durant‘s free agency plans, McGee said he didn’t know and quickly pivoted into dropping a nugget about how Kyrie Irving “Wants to go to Brooklyn” while explaining how that was a major variable in Durant’s free agency plans.
McGee would go on to talk a bit about the Anthony Davis trade and how it impacted the Lakers’ young players. McGee would go on to explain that as a young player, you don’t know how to handle trades and that players can often get “shook” by trade rumors.
McGee doubled down on his statements from last night where he said that the Davis trade rumors weren’t the reason for the Lakers’ troubles but instead the slew of injuries that the team got hit with.
Other Los Angeles Lakers Free Agent Targets
Aside from Irving, the two biggest free agent targets the Lakers are chasing look to be Kawhi Leonard and Jimmy Butler. Kawhi might be the biggest question mark in the entire free agent field as nobody seems to have any sort of indication on what he might do. Granted, he’s still playing in the NBA Finals but there is a good chance that nobody is going to know what Kawhi is actually up to until free agency kicks off.
When it comes to Jimmy Butler, we have a bit more information on that front. Butler is reportedly going to be offered a max contract from the 76ers, not exactly shocking after the Sixers gave up some valuable pieces to bring him on board. However, Butler looked out of place at times last season playing in an absolutely loaded Sixers starting lineup alongside Ben Simmons, Joel Embiid, and Tobias Harris. It wouldn’t be unrealistic to expect Butler to want a fresh start and playing as the clear number two in LA next to an elite playmaker like James could do wonders for his production.