1. Kyrie Irving is always injured or unavailable
He proved this past season that he would choose is own personal beliefs over his teammates by missing more than half of his team’s games by not wanting to get vaccinated, which is his personal right to choose. But there were also instances of him missing time because he would rather attend a party or be a part of a protest than be a part of his team.
Not to mention he has had plenty of injury issues in the past, and the last thing the Lakers need is another star that can’t even stay on the court. Irving dealt with injuries before even coming to the NBA, he only played 11 games at Duke and missed 26 due to injury.
After turning pro, he has had a multitude of injuries from his shoulder to his finger and especially knee problems. He has missed an average of 26 games every season and has never had a season where he missed less than 10 games.
For comparison, Anthony Davis who has the same injury connotation surrounding his career has missed an average of 21.6 games every season and has missed less than 10 games in two seasons. That is not much better, but it is better, and no one has referred to Irving as “street clothes” for a nickname.
Since becoming a Net, Kyrie has only played in 103 out of the 226 games, and it is big reason why his team has failed to live up to their lofty championship expectations. The Lakers already have two injury prone stars that have dealt with multiple setbacks the past couple of seasons, so adding another one makes no sense.