Lakers fans won’t like Joe Tsai’s latest tweet about Kyrie Irving
By Mike Luciano
The Los Angeles Lakers have been deadlocked over the last few weeks, as the pursuit of Brooklyn Nets guard Kyrie Irving has stalled out. With Russell Westbrook’s contract not exactly an attractive trade piece, Brooklyn is willing to hold on to Irving until a better offer hits their front office.
The only way LA could land Irving before the season starts is if relations between Irving, owner Joe Tsai, and general manager Sean Marks deteriorate to a point where neither party wants to reconcile. Considering Tsai’s latest tweet, that seems unlikely.
At the premiere of Kevin Durant’s “NYC Point Guards” documentary, Tsai put out a complimentary tweet that co-signed the opinions of those who think Irving would have been a New York blacktop legend. With some of the best handles ever, Kyrie seemed like an obvious choice for this award.
While this may seem like an innocuous tweet to many, it’s one of the first semi-public statements from Tsai that was complementary to Irving. After months of frostiness and trade rumors, could we take this as a sign that Brooklyn is trying to smooth things over with Kyrie?
The Lakers’ odds of getting Kyrie Irving are decreasing.
According to Shams Charania, Irving has decided that he is determined to play this season for the Nets with or without Kevin Durant. With less motivation on Irving’s part to even get a deal done and force his way to LA, the Lakers might not have the ability to acquire him.
This is a sharp change from earlier in the offseason, when it seemed like the Lakers were the only team that had an interest in acquiring Irving. With the Nets also trying to put out the Durant fire, the idea of reconciling with both parties and running it back for one more year is looking more likely by the day.
There’s no doubt that a Lakers team with Irving as one of the co-stars would be a feared force in the West, but they just don’t have the assets needed to make Brooklyn a willing partner in talks. Be it a lack of draft capital or tangible role players, LA is much too thin.
There is still a slight chance that Irving is wearing forum blue and gold this season. With the rest of the league apparently out on Kyrie, the Lakers need to make it clear to the Nets that they are not going to flake away. Tsai might be complementary of Kyrie now, but one heated meeting is all it would take to get him to LA.