2. The Los Angeles Lakers are the only team interested in Kyrie Irving
It has been well-documented and reported this summer that Kyrie Irving does not have any trade value. He is in the last year of his contract, which was a player option that he accepted shortly before Kevin Durant demanded a trade.
The fact that Kyrie could not play in half of his team’s games last season has raised red flags and there were already concerns before he came to Brooklyn. Kyrie was not a great leader in Boston and requested a trade out of nowhere from the Cleveland Cavaliers to get away from LeBron.
One year of a wild card at a high salary is not something teams want to trade for. That is why the Lakers are the only team that is actually in the market for Kyrie. This forces the Nets’ hand to take whatever the Lakers can give.
Of course, both sides are going to work back and forth in getting the ideal package for either side and that is why we see all of these varying reports about the status of the trade. If Brooklyn had more suitors then they could hang that over the Lakers’ heads for a better package or even take another package.
The problem is that they don’t. The Nets know that, and more importantly, the Lakers know that. Los Angeles is the only team desperate enough to actually trade for Irving… which leads us to our third reason why it will inevitably happen.