3. Keeps Anthony Davis in Los Angeles and establishes the future
Yes, there are concerns about how a potential Kyrie Irving contract could age if the team is paying him max money through his age 35 season. That is absolutely a legitimate concern and it could get ugly like the Westbrook situation has when Irving is in the last year of his deal.
That being said, the Lakers should not let one potentially bad season in five years keep them from making a move that will open up the championship window this year but also give the team a good foundation in the immediate future.
LeBron James’ future with the team is unclear and even with Irving in LA he could leave after the 2022-23 season. Trading for Irving probably does keep him around for one more year but that would likely be it as he would want to play with his son after that.
The Lakers need to prepare for a time post-LeBron and right now the plan seems to be to build around Anthony Davis. However, if LeBron leaves and the Lakers are unable to land anyone in free agency then Davis could pack his bags and demand a trade to his next team as well.
Getting Irving now keeps that from happening and in theory, the Lakers would get to build around this Kyrie-AD partnership for the 2-3 years once LeBron leaves. They will have much more cap space with LeBron leaving and could potentially turn that into great depth or another sign-and-trade situation for another star in the future.
The Lakers are risking going back into the dark ages after this Westbrook trade. If this next season is a disaster with Westbrook it could push LeBron away, which would push Anthony Davis away, which would leave the Lakers with no stars, not a lot of assets and a bad reputation for how they handled this situation.
With Irving, the team stays relevant and stays in contention for at least the next 3-4 years. That is more than worth it for Westbrook and two first-round picks.