3. Dallas Mavericks
The Kyrie Irving trade did not exactly go as planned for the Dallas Mavericks last season. The team actively got worse after it traded for Kyrie and missed the playoffs altogether. Dallas didn’t even have a chance to extend its season in the play-in despite having one of the best young players in the entire sport
With it crashing and burning so hard, it is really unclear to see what Dallas is going to do with Kyrie. Any sensible fan that is not in the weeds for the team would say that the Mavericks should just move on. But that is really hard to do when you commit assets to a player like Kyrie.
If Kyrie does leave then the team may look for another point guard that can knock down shots and take over the offensive playmaking during stretches to give Luka a break. Dallas does not have as much cap space as the other teams but the team could move money around to try and bring Russell into the fold.
There is also a nightmare scenario for Lakers fans that could result in D’Angelo Russell joining the Mavericks
Perhaps the scariest thing that can happen to the Lakers this offseason would be orchestrating a double sign-and-trade between Russell and Irving. Irving is a big name but bringing him to LA would be a massive mistake by the Lakers.
With the Kyrie situation so up in the air, the Mavericks have to be considered a potential Russell landing spot regardless of how he ends up on the roster.