Last summer, fans of the Los Angeles Lakers were hoping the team would somehow land perennial All-Star guard Kyrie Irving, who was rumored to be requesting a trade from the Brooklyn Nets.
The Lakers and Nets reportedly engaged in talks in July, but nothing materialized.
Buy Lakers TicketsWhen Irving asked to be traded at midseason, L.A. tried again to get him. Instead, Irving was sent to the Dallas Mavericks. The Nets reportedly asked executive Rob Pelinka for too much, and Pelinka decided to go in a different direction. He traded Russell Westbrook and draft compensation for D’Angelo Russell, Jarred Vanderbilt and Malik Beasley.
Irving will become a free agent this summer, and again there are rumors the Lakers will try to go after him and reunite him with LeBron James. According to Tim Cato of The Athletic, they do not have the desire to go down that path (h/t Lakers Daily).
Via The Athletic:
“Of course, there’s nothing notable about an out-of-season basketball player attending a basketball game in the city known as this league’s summer home,” Cato said. “And no matter how close Irving might be to (LeBron) James, the Lakers are disinterested in pursuing him in free agency, say league sources, who like all unnamed sources in this article were granted anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. To acquire him would require jettisoning several deadline acquisitions who have helped revitalize their season and land them in a second-round series against the Golden State Warriors.”
Irving was at Crypto.com Arena when the Lakers put away the Memphis Grizzlies in Game 6 of their first-round series, and he and James shared a moment with each other, which made some wonder what may be in store for the offseason.
But the Lakers now have the depth and talent to make a run at the NBA championship, and if they at least get past the Golden State Warriors in the Western Conference semifinals, there will not be any logical reason to break up this current core, especially for such an enigmatic figure like Irving.
