All signs are pointing to the Los Angeles Lakers trading for Kyrie Irving this offseason. The Brooklyn Nets appear to be blowing it up this offseason after Kevin Durant requested a trade and the Lakers are the only team desperate enough to offer assets for Irving.
Los Angeles is not contending with Russell Westbrook and while Irving has his problems, being able to flip Westbrook for Irving would be huge for the Lakers. From a basketball sense, this is the perfect scenario for the Lakers.
However, there has been a bit of a hang-up in trade talks. With Brooklyn being a taxpaying team, it appears that Sean Marks does not want to take in $11 million extra in salary by getting just Westbrook and picks. Thus, including Joe Harris to offset the money seems to be Brooklyn’s M-O.
The problem with that is despite the Lakers being a multi-billion dollar sports franchise, they pinch pennies at every turn. We saw it last offseason with Alex Caruso. LA seemingly does not want to be the side that is taking on more money in this trade.
That is where the San Antonio Spurs come in for the Lakers and Nets.
Speculation is now growing that the San Antonio Spurs, who made it very clear they are tanking for Victor Wembanyama, could be a third team that helps facilitate this trade. San Antonio would essentially take on Westbrook’s contract, allowing both teams to not add much more money to their salary-cap situation.
The problem with this path for the Lakers is that they are going to have to include more assets. The Spurs are not going to just do this to help out the Lakers and Nets. They have to be compensated. Instead of simply paying more tax money, the Lakers would have to trade a first-round pick to San Antonio as well.
Los Angeles and Brooklyn could certainly still work out a trade without a third party involved as adding that third team can complicate things. That being said, there are still multiple routes this trade can take.
Let’s break down two potential routes a three-team trade with the Spurs could take.