Los Angeles Lakers: Should Kyrie Irving sign with Kevin Durant hurt?

Until Game 5 of the NBA Finals, Kevin Durant was slated to be the top free agent available this summer. His injury, however, will likely change all that, and it could help the Los Angeles Lakers

With his Warriors down 3-1 to the Raptors in the NBA Finals, Kevin Durant decided to take what seemed like a calculated risk at the time and return to the court roughly a month after injuring his calf in the second round of the playoffs.

He played 12 minutes and scored 11 points on 3-5 shooting until he went down early in the second quarter with what was an Achilles tear. This caused some Lakers fans to flashback to when Kobe had the same injury in 2013.

It was one of the cruelest things I’ve ever seen in over 20 years of following the NBA since I was a little kid. The timing and the circumstances of it made it seem much crueler than Kobe’s Achilles injury.

As ESPN’s Brian Windhorst said after the Warriors’ improbable 106-105 win

"“The NBA just changed.”"

For the past 12 months, several NBA teams, including the Lakers, have been gunning and preparing for this summer’s headline-making free agent class, hoping that one stroke of a pen will change their fortunes once and for all. This class could include Kawhi Leonard, Kyrie Irving, Kemba Walker, Khris Middleton and Jimmy Butler.

But Durant was going to be the crown jewel of that group. We’re talking about a two-time world champion, two-time Gold Medal winner, regular season MVP, two-time Finals MVP, four-time scoring champ, yada yada yada. Some have even started to talk about him being arguably one of the 10 greatest players in NBA history at this point.

But all those plans have been totally disrupted by one ripple and rupture of a tendon.

If I’m the Knicks, Nets or Clippers, three teams that have been rumored to be front-runners for Durant, there’s no way I’m offering him a max contract at this point. In fact, I probably wouldn’t even go after KD at all.

History has shown that following an Achilles injury comes a 9-12 month recovery period, and afterwards, almost every NBA star or superstar who has sustained this injury hasn’t even been remotely the same player they were prior to the injury.

We saw this up close and personal as Lakers fans with Kobe not too long ago.

How could this potentially help the Lakers? If you’re Kyrie Irving, do you still want to team up with Durant on one of the New York-area teams, knowing what I mentioned above is what, in all likelihood, will happen to Durant?

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Are you really willing to take the risk of being in the same kind of situation you were in with the Celtics this year? Being on a team that just wasn’t good enough to contend, for the seemingly remote chance that Durant may get back to being an elite player in 2-3 years, when he’ll be in his early 30s?

Unless Jimmy Butler is willing to team up with Kyrie, and both really think they can carry the Knicks, Nets or Clippers to an NBA title, the best option for Irving is to come to the Lakers.

Unlike Durant, LeBron James played it safe with his groin injury, even as the Lakers kept falling in the standings and almost single-handedly killed their chances of making the playoffs throughout January. As a result, when LeBron returned to the lineup, he looked like his old self after he got his conditioning back, averaging 28.8 points, 8 rebounds and 9.8 assists on over 50 percent shooting after the All-Star break.

LeBron even sat out nine games during that time for “load management.” I’ve criticized LeBron before for doing just that, but if it’s a decision made by the medical staff, rather than one unilaterally made by the self-proclaimed King, then I’m cool with it.

Not to mention the fact that the Lakers have agreed to a trade that will bring Anthony Davis to Los Angeles.

Memo to Kyrie Irving: I know you grew up in North Jersey, but if you’re serious about winning another NBA championship, don’t leave things to chance by joining Kevin Durant on the Knicks or Nets (or any other team, for that matter).