3 teams the Los Angeles Lakers can loop into a Kyrie Irving trade
By Jason Reed
The Los Angeles Lakers may end up combining two of the best teammates that LeBron James has had in his career. Shams Charania of The Athletic recently reported that the Brooklyn Nets and Kyrie Irving are at an impasse that could lead to his departure from the team this offseason.
Irving has a player option for the 2022-23 season that he can use to leverage where he goes this offseason. Irving could theoretically opt out and sign a contract with a team in free agency but there are not many teams in the league with the means to open the cap space for him. Those teams are also not competitve.
However, he could opt into his option for the 2022-23 season for a sign-and-trade deal. Irving would have leverage in this situation as he could dictate where the Nets send him. For the Nets, moving Irving for something is better than losing him (and the cap space) for nothing.
The Lakers and New York Knicks were two teams that were initially mentioned as suitors for Irving, so there is a legitimate chance that Kyrie Irving could be wearing the purple and gold by October.
If the Los Angeles Lakers trade for Kyrie Irving they are going to have to loop in a third team.
The one hangup in this is that the Lakers are likely going to have to include a third team in the deal. While the Nets are better off getting something rather than nothing for Kyrie Irving, they still are not going to want Westbrook. Westbrook is overpaid and Kevin Durant probably would not be a fan of that move. The Nets have to keep Kevin Durant happy, after all.
Thus, if Kyrie does want to be a Laker then Rob Pelinka is going to have to get hard at work to find a third team that is willing to take on Westbrook’s contract (with incentives) and can offer the Nets something of value.
Here are the three teams that Rob Pelinka should try first.