Kyrie Irving is officially off the table for the Los Angeles Lakers. Brooklyn Nets general manager Sean Marks released a statement on Tuesday morning that the Nets and Kevin Durant will be moving forward with their partnership, which takes a Kyrie Irving trade off the table.
Of course, because it is the Nets, things could easily blow up in their faces and Irving could be back on the trade market by February. For now, though, Kyrie is off the table and the Lakers cannot afford to wait it out. They must pivot.
This team is not going anywhere with Russell Westbrook on the roster and by signing LeBron James to a contract extension, the front office is signaling that they are committed to building a contender.
While Westbrook is not an easy player to move and it is going to require the Lakers to likely send two draft picks, there still are alternatives. Frequent Lake Show Life readers already know these alternatives, but for those that don’t, let’s dive into them.
Lakers trade alternative no. 1: A two-for-one with the Indiana Pacers
The most likely alternative for the Lakers is a deal with the Indiana Pacers for Buddy Hield and Myles Turner. Hield was nearly traded to the Lakers last summer as there is obvious interest there. In fact, the Pacers reportedly already rejected this trade package with only one first-round pick attached.
Los Angeles should make this happen even if it takes two first-round picks to do so. While Hield and Turner are not the most valuable players in the league, they do add a needed dynamic to this Lakers roster.
Hield is one of the most prominent three-point shooters in the entire league while Turner is one of the best three-point shooting bigs in the sport. Los Angeles gets shooting, more size and even some defense in Turner to play alongside Anthony Davis.
Sure, the Lakers are trading a bit too much for just these two players, but there is so much added value in just getting rid of Russell Westbrook.
Lakers trade alternative no. 2: Being the third team in a Utah Jazz-New York Knicks trade
This is another potential superstar-filled trade that the Los Angeles Lakers would simply have to be patient for. Donovan Mitchell is also on the trade market and with KD officially off the market, perhaps we will see a Mitchell trade finally come to fruition.
The New York Knicks are the most talked-about destination for Mitchell and if that ends up being where he goes then the Lakers can jump into this trade and potentially trade Westbrook for fewer than two draft picks.
The only contracts that New York has to send back to Utah are multi-year deals and a tanking team like the Jazz is not going to want multiple years of Julius Randle and Evan Fournier. However, they would want an expiring contract that they can buy out and save money.
While there would be a lot of moving parts, the foundation of the trade is simple for the Lakers: Los Angeles sends Utah Russell Westbrook’s expiring contract and a first-round pick and instead takes on the contracts of Julius Randle and Evan Fournier.
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Randle has his concerns, sure, but his cap figure is going to be pennies when the new TV deal kicks in considering he never goes above $30 million. This is also a trade worth making for LA.