The 76ers won’t be able to help the Lakers trade for Kyrie Irving

There is so much drama around the Brooklyn Nets right now as the team potentially blows it up this offseason and trades both Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving. The Los Angeles Lakers are hoping that the Nets ultimately trade Durant, as that will lead to a Kyrie trade with LA.

A Durant trade was losing steam over the last few weeks but that all changed when Durant met with Nets owner Joe Tsai and reiterated his trade request. Durant gave Tsai an ultimatum: either trade Durant or fire Sean Marks and Steve Nash.

After Tsai’s tweet supporting his head coach and general manager, Laker fans have to feel good about the potential of an Irving trade. Los Angeles still has to wait for a Durant trade to formulate with new potential suitors entering the conversation.

According to NBA insider Ian Begley, Durant views the 76ers as a desired landing spot in a potential trade, reuniting him with James Harden. Begley also names the Boston Celtics, who have been in on Durant for some time now.

As painful as it would be to see Durant in Boston, the Lakers still may have to rely on their rivals to make a Durant trade happen, as the 76ers are not a realistic trade destination for Durant.

Why the 76ers can’t trade for Kevin Durant and help the Los Angeles Lakers:

The 76ers can make the money work in a trade. Tobias Harris is key to making this possible as the 76ers could package Harris, Matisse Thybulle and Furkan Korkmaz to make the trade work financially.

However, that is about the only part of this trade that works or makes sense.

First of all, that is a horrible contract for the Nets to take back in a Durant trade. Think the Westbrook contract is bad? At least Westbrook is on an expiring. The Nets would have to swallow two years of Harris’ massive salary in a trade where Durant is an actual asset, unlike Kyrie.

The other problem with this trade is with the picks that the Nets already have from the 76ers. The Steipen Rule restricts teams from trading back-to-back first-round picks.

So while the teams could get around this with pick swaps, the Nets are not going to want only pick swaps in a Kevin Durant trade, especially when they can still get far more in a depleted market.

4 Disposable Lakers if the team needs to create a roster spot

The Los Angeles Lakers are still in a holding pattern waiting for Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving to land and determine what direction

The 76ers also traded their 2025 first-round pick to the Thunder for Danny Green. For that reason, the 76ers only have one unprotected first-round pick they can trade: 2029. I can promise you that won’t be enough for Durant.