1. New York Knicks
The New York Knicks were the other team mentioned alongside the Los Angeles Lakers as a potential suitor for Kyrie Irving this offseason. There are not a lot of teams in the league that have the cap space to outright sign Irving, who can opt out of his contract this offseason. The Knicks are not one of the teams with space and would have to execute a trade like the Lakers.
Unlike the Lakers, the Knicks probably would not have to loop in a third team as they would try to stockpile assets in order to get the Nets to bite. Brooklyn is a team that is still trying to contend at the end of the day, though, so they are not going to want to stockpile on young assets that may not work out regardless.
The Nets do not have much leverage in the situation though as Irving can just opt out of his deal and leave. Thus, they would have to take a trade package that is 80 cents on the dollar from the Knicks and that creates the following deal:
This is not a horrible trade for the Nets. It might not be what Irving would be worth normally, but to get this for a guy who can leave anyway is pretty decent. They may not get a star in return but they get a guy with an all-star pedigree in Randle as well as a point guard to help run the offense in Derrick Rose. Add in the 11th pick and it is not a bad package.
This could give the Nets some really fun starting five combinations. The team could go smaller with Rose, Seth Curry, Kevin Durant, Julius Randle and Ben Simmons, which would be interesting.