Getty LeBron James, Los Angeles Lakers
A lot has been said about the Los Angeles Lakers pursuit of Kyrie Irving from the Brooklyn Nets, and while nothing has come to fruition, the saga is likely to continue throughout the summer.
Of course, as things stand right now, Kevin Durant is the player Brooklyn are most concerned with, and they will be hoping to convince him to remain on the East Coast with Irving and Ben Simmons.
However, if the Nets are unsuccessful in convincing Durant to remain, there will be no shortage of trade offers. Yet, according to SB Nation’s Ricky O’Donnell, the Lakers can produce a package to land both Durant and Irving this summer, if they want to drastically shake things up.
Just wake me up when Kyrie is a Laker 🥱
The trade proposal looks like this:
Brooklyn Nets get: Russell Westbrook, Anthony Davis, Talen Horton-Tucker, and Austin Reaves.
Lakers get: Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving.
While this trade does seem unlikely, it solves issues for both parties. The Lakers finally move on from Westbrook, while adding Irving and another superstar in Kevin Durant, and the Nets remove two players who don’t want to be there while adding a generational talent in Davis and replacing Irving’s production with Westbrook.
Does This Trade Help the Lakers?
On the surface, this trade is a win-win for everybody involved, especially since the Lakers retain their future draft picks. However, in this hypothetical situation, Davis will likely be the sticking point.
Since Davis moved to Los Angeles, the common consensus has been that he will eventually become the face of the Lakers once LeBron James leaves or retires. However, a total of 138 games over the last three seasons isn’t what the front office was hoping for when they moved mountains to acquire him.
As such, the prospect of obtaining Durant, who has four years remaining on his current contract, and pairing him with LeBron and Irving, could be too much to turn down for the Lakers. They would have the best big three in the NBA, and would instantly become championship favorites – and that’s why it’s feasible that they would sign off on this trade, even if it does make their future a little less clear.
Kyrie Expected to Remain in Brooklyn
Assuming this trade proposal never becomes a reality, the likelihood is that Irving will remain with the Nets heading into next season. According to a July 25 report by Shams Charania on an episode of the Pat McAfee show, Irving is committed to seeing out the final year of his contract before hitting unrestricted free agency next summer
Are the Brooklyn Nets still trying to win ONE of these @ShamsCharania
“Kyrie Irving opted in with the full intent of playing out next season as a Brooklyn Net. From everything that I’ve been told, in his mind, he’s playing next year in Brooklyn – with or without Kevin Durant. Irving opted in, there was an understanding that he was going to make the best decision for himself, and Durant will be making his decision as well. From everything I’ve been told, Kyrie Irving has made his intent, he wants to play out next season in Brooklyn and be an unrestricted free agent next summer,” Charania explained during the episode.
Should the Lakers be unable to convince Brooklyn to accept a deal for Irving that is centered around Westbrook, LeBron could be forced to wait another season before teaming up with his former teammate, and considering LeBron is on an expiring deal, it will be interesting to see how he reacts to that. Then again, there is still plenty of time before the start of the new season, and anything can happen, so for now, we just have to remain patient.