A bombshell was dropped on Thursday as it was reported that Kevin Durant has demanded a trade from the Brooklyn Nets. This came just days after Kyrie Irving decided to opt into his player option, seemingly ending the hopes of a trade to the Los Angeles Lakers.
However, with Durant now looking to be traded, the door is wide open for the Lakers to send Russell Westbrook to the Nets with a future first-round pick to get Kyrie in Los Angeles.
But why stop there? As the old saying goes, shoot for the stars, but aim for the moon. What if the Lakers could not only trade for Durant but could also trade for Kyrie Irving as well? As absurd as it sounds, it is something that is at least on the table, or so it seems. That is, if we take Brian Windhorst’s word for it.
Brian Windhorst says the Lakers could potentially put together a package that lands Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving pic.twitter.com/9QZeSYkdfF
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) June 30, 2022
But this just leaves us with one burning question:
What would it cost for the Los Angeles Lakers to trade for both Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving?
The Lakers would absolutely have to send Anthony Davis back in this trade, no question about it. It is not even physically possible to do this deal without AD or LeBron James being involved and the Nets are not going to take one year of an old LeBron.
The Lakers cannot sell the farm in terms of draft picks in this trade, which hurts its chances. However, the team could put together a package that works money-wise and would at least give the Nets an All-NBA player in return.
The Lakers can now trade up to their 2029 first-round pick, which gives them another weapon in their arsenal to get this done. Even though the Lakers are trading Anthony Davis back to the Nets in this trade, they would still likely have to trade the picks as they would not only be freeing up Russell Westbrook’s contract, but would be getting one of the best players on the planet in Kevin Durant.
The Lakers would still get a first-round pick in 2028, the Nets would just have the right to swap the picks if the Lakers had a better pick.
For the Nets, this could be worth it if ownership is trying to stay relevant. How Russell Westbrook fits into this is unclear as the team could just look to buy him out. However, the Nets could convince themselves that they are building something around Anthony Davis and Ben Simmons, which might be better than simply taking on youth and a boatload of picks.
The Lakers swap the injury-prone AD for KD, who is getting up there in age. There could be a risk of regression in KD’s later years with the team, but there is no doubt that he is still one of the three best players on the planet at this point in time.
The Lakers would instantly be the title favorites with LeBron, KD and Kyrie all on the same team. Whether or not it works out is yet to be seen but the foundation would be there to compete for a championship for at least the next two years.
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Will it happen? Probably not. Is it fun to speculate about? Absolutely.