With the NBA Offseason on the horizon, The Athletic’s Jovan Buha revealed that Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James has a strong desire to play with former controversial Boston Celtics star Kyrie Irving.
“I think if you gave LeBron truth serum, he’d love to play with Kyrie again,” Buha said while talking with Michael Scotto on the HoopsHype Podcast on June 1. “I don’t think that’s a secret. He was pushing for Kyrie at the Feb. 9 trade deadline. He made public comments about it in a postgame media availability. The previous summer, he wanted the Lakers to trade Russell Westbrook for Kyrie.”
Though James would like to be reunited with his former Cleveland Cavaliers teammate, Buha added that the last team Irving played for, the Dallas Mavericks, have no reason to help the Lakers get him.
“Dallas has little to no incentive to help the Lakers out in this situation. The cleanest way to do it for L.A. would be a double sign-and-trade where they’d send D’Angelo Russell to Dallas, and they’d get back Kyrie. But why would Dallas do that? They don’t have interest in Russell. He’s coming off a disappointing Conference Finals.”
James has played with multiple former Celtics guards since joining the Lakers in 2019, which include Rajon Rondo, Isaiah Thomas, and Dennis Schroder.
Max Strus Fires Shot at Celtics
After the Miami Heat eliminated the Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals, Heat sharpshooter Max Strus took a subtle dig at the Celtics while celebrating the Heat’s victory on his personal Instagram.
Strus posted a slideshow after the Heat clinched their NBA Finals berth, with the last picture being a screenshot of the headline of the Celtics cutting Strus in 2019 just before the 2019-20 season started.
The screenshot of that headline can be left up to interpretation, but it appears Strus is rubbing it in the Celtics’ faces that letting him go to a rival paved the way to their season being cut short in the Eastern Conference Finals almost four years later.
In the 2023 Eastern Conference Finals, Strus averaged 9.4 points a game while shooting 41.8% from the field and 34.2% from three in seven games while playing 28.4 minutes a game as a starter.
However, Strus didn’t exactly have the best NBA Finals debut against the Denver Nuggets, going 0-for-10 from the field, which included missing nine three-pointers.
Isaiah Thomas’ Thoughts on Game 7
Former Celtics star point guard gave his thoughts on the Celtics losing Game 7 to the Heat while talking with Heavy Sports’ Steve Bulpett.
Thomas explained to Bulpett that winning in situations like that requires a team to have the mental fortitude, but some teams simply don’t have that.
“You got to, but everybody’s not built for these moments,” said Thomas. “So you got to tip your hat to the Miami Heat. They played a hell of a game, Game 7 on the road. And then, with the Celtics not having their best player at full strength, that hurts. Nobody expected that. You expected Jayson Tatum to probably get 50 tonight because he loves these moments.
“So it was tough for them to adjust on the fly. And I don’t think they got enough from everybody. Obviously, Derrick White had a good game, but everybody else was a step slow.”
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LeBron James Would ‘Love to Play’ With Controversial Ex-Celtic: Insider