After trade talks seem to stall over the last few weeks, it now seems more likely than ever that the Brooklyn Nets will trade Kevin Durant — which in turn is going to result in the Los Angeles Lakers trading for Kyrie Irving.
Durant reiterated his trade request to Joe Tsai and gave the Nets owner an ultimatum between him and the duo of Sean Marks and Steve Nash. After Tsai’s tweet supporting his coach and general manager, it seems like just a matter of time before KD is moved.
The Nets’ focus will then shift to working out a Kyrie Irving trade with the Lakers, who are the only team really interested in the all-star point guard. Los Angeles is going to try its best to get the asking price down to just one first-round pick, but it might end up taking two from LA to get a deal done.
That would be a nice return for the Nets, who might end up getting even more future Lakers picks as a result of this blow-up. While LA has more first-round picks in the near future than fans realize, the extra picks would not be coming from them; they would be coming from the New Orleans Pelicans.
According to Kristian Winfield of NY Daily News, the Pelicans remain interested in a potential Durant trade. New Orleans certainly has the means to pair Durant with Zion Williamson as they could build a package around Brandon Ingram, draft picks and maybe even Herb Jones. That would give New Orleans a star trio of Durant, Zion and CJ McCollum.
What Lakers picks can the Pelicans trade to the Nets for Kevin Durant?
The New Orleans Pelicans have the rights to two more Los Angeles Lakers picks as part of the 2019 blockbuster for Anthony Davis. New Orleans has a pick swap this upcoming season with Los Angeles as well as the right to take either the 2024 or 2025 first-round pick.
If Brooklyn were to trade for both picks they would get the better pick between the Pelicans and Lakers in 2024, with the worse pick going to the Lakers. Then the Nets would have the right to take the Lakers’ 2024 first-round pick, and if they did not want it, they roll that over to 2025 where they would get the pick regardless.
If all this happens, the Nets could potentially get the Lakers’ first-round pick in 2023, 2024, or 2025, 2027 and 2029. Brooklyn would essentially control the Lakers’ future and would be hoping that the front office really screws things up and gives the Nets valuable picks in return.
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The Los Angeles Lakers don’t have those picks anyway so it does not really change much for them but it would be interesting to see the Nets essentially go all-in on LA screwing it up in the next five years.