The Los Angeles Lakers are all-in on Kyrie Irving this offseason and if the team is unable to trade Russell Westbrook for him then they probably won’t contend for the NBA Championship next season. Unfortunately, that is the situation the Lakers have put themselves in.
Things are in a holding pattern right now as the Lakers and Nets not only work out the logistics of the trade, but the Nets also try and trade Kevin Durant. Trading Durant is the team’s priority and they are not going to trade Irving before they know they have a Durant deal.
With how the money is playing out and the desires of both teams, there are multiple ways the Lakers’ trade for Kyrie Irving could play out. Thus, we have to decide which is the best for the purple and gold.
Ranking 3 possible Kyrie Irving trades for the Los Angeles Lakers:
3. Including San Antonio
The San Antonio Spurs are a team that has been rumored to help facilitate trade between the Lakers and the Nets with the Spurs taking on Westbrook’s salary for a fee. This allows Brooklyn to save a lot of money against the cap, which matters to them being a tax-spending team.
In fact, some reports indicate that a trade with Westbrook going to the Spurs is the closest thing to happening. Unfortunately for Lakers fans, that is probably the worst-case scenario.
There are a few different directions that a trade involving the Spurs could go but based on recent reports, it will likely have to involve the Spurs getting a first-round pick. Thus, it would probably look something like this:
The Nets free up a ton of cap space both this season and in the future as Richardson and Poeltl are on expiring contracts. The Lakers get Kyrie and get Westbrook off the books at the price of two first-round picks. The Spurs take on $25 million more in salary and could probably save around $5-6 million by instantly buying out Westbrook.
This is the foundation of the trade as there could be more moving parts but this is still the worst version of the trade for the Lakers as it sees the team give up two first-round picks just for Kyrie in return.