Los Angeles Lakers: Is a Russell Westbrook for Kyrie Irving trade possible?

The Los Angeles Lakers are three games into the 2021-22 season. The team currently has a 1-2 record and it is clear that the new-look roster is still looking to gel while also dealing with several injuries.

The Lakers are the favorites to win the NBA Championship in the Western Conference while the favorites to win the NBA Championship overall are the Brooklyn Nets, who are also 1-2 to start the young season.

The Nets are playing without Kyrie Irving, who is unable to play in any Nets home games due to local vaccination mandates. The Lakers have their third star in Russell Westbrook, who has not been that great to start the season and could be looking like a mistake.

Of course, because trades are the most popular thing in the NBA, the idea of a Kyrie Irving for Russell Westbrook trade has become a legitimate conversation. Fadeaway World posted their breakdown of a potential trade and as someone who is in several Lakers Facebook groups as well as follows a lot of Lakers fans on Twitter, I can tell you this: fans are talking about it.

So we have to answer the question:

Is a Russell Westbrook for Kyrie Irving trade possible for the Los Angeles Lakers?

Two words: absolutely not. If you are buying into the idea of Kyrie reuniting with LeBron James in LA then you are going to be disappointed. There is a zero percent chance of this trade happening.

Sure, it sounds good on paper. The Lakers and Nets flip their two stars who might not fit on the current team and create two reunions in the process. Westbrook reunites with James Harden and Kevin Durant while Kyrie Irving reunites with LeBron James.

Just from an Xs and Os standpoint, this makes no sense for the Nets. Westbrook is not even close to the player that Kyrie is at this point in their careers and we have already seen that his playstyle does not mesh well with Durant’s.

Westbrook was traded for the worst contract in John Wall and then the Lakers were able to get him for a collection of average rotation players. Do you really think his value is worth Irving?

But Irving can’t play, right!? That is all the reason we need to think that this is possible, right!?

What Lee Tran of Fadeaway World, as well as Laker fans on social media, are forgetting is the fact that the Staples Center would present the exact same hurdles as the Barclays Center. Starting November 29, Irving would have to be vaccinated to play at the Staples Center.

It is literally the exact same problem. This is the rare instance where both teams say no. The Nets are better off waiting on Kyrie and not taking on Westbrook’s contract and the Los Angeles Lakers are better off just keeping what they have and not running into the exact same problem.

It isn’t happening, folks. Sorry to burst any bubbles.