2. Utah Jazz
The Utah Jazz are likely going to make some kind of change this offseason and what bigger change to make than to trade for Kyrie Irving. Quin Snyder is already out as the head coach and President of Basketball Operations Danny Ainge could make a splash in his first full offseason with the team.
Ainge has a past with Irving as he was the GM of the Boston Celtics when the Celtics traded for him. While that partnership did not go as planned, we have seen GMs trade for players they are familiar with from previous junctures. The Philadelphia 76ers just did it with Daryl Morey and James Harden.
All it will take is some pressure from Donovan Mitchell, who can try and link up with Kyrie Irving to force this to happen, and suddenly the two sides would be on the phone working out a deal. The trade that makes the most sense for both sides is quite easy to put together, actually.
The two sides would simply flip all-stars and in this deal, the Brooklyn Nets should be the team that is getting a draft pick with Rudy Gobert having some playoff woes and a big contract that most teams don’t want to take on.
This is the classic case of two teams talking themselves into this trade and quite frankly, it probably wouldn’t work out for either. Utah would get excited about Kyrie but that backcourt defense with him and Mitchell would be a trainwreck in the playoffs.
Meanwhile, Brooklyn would get size in Gobert to put at the five and the Nets could run some overwhelmingly big lineups with KD and Simmons. However, the floor spacing would be awful and they would still be in a position where they can’t add depth.
It might make both teams worse in the long run but that doesn’t mean that Kyrie won’t force his way to Utah if he and Mitchell want to play together.