Big things are happening in Southern California. Fresh off a rather disappointing campaign, the Los Angeles Lakers are shifting their focus to acquiring Kyrie Irving, who has named the 17x champs as his preferred trade destination this summer.
No move is imminent at this time, and both teams are reportedly still far from reaching any kind of deal. But according to the words of Brian Windhorst, the odds are still extremely high that Irving ends up rejoining LeBron James at some point before the start of the 2022-23 season.
(via RealGM):
“Kyrie Irving absolutely wants to be a Los Angeles Laker,” said Brian Windhorst. “This we know. The Lakers want Kyrie Irving. This we know. But making that happen that’s a different story. We don’t really get a good feeling there’s any team seriously on the market for Kyrie right now beyond the Lakers. It’s doesn’t mean they don’t like him or value him, they just don’t want to pay a potential price the Nets are asking. This is one of those things where we just have to wait and see. I doubt Kyrie will be back [with Brooklyn], I think he’ll be on the Lakers, but I don’t know when it will happen.”
Brian Windhorst on Kyrie:
“Kyrie Irving absolutely wants to be a Los Angeles Laker… I doubt Kyrie will be back with Brooklyn, I think he’ll be on the Lakers, but I don’t know when that’ll happen.”
(via @windhorstespn) pic.twitter.com/bfkl48bUhy
— Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops) July 7, 2022
The Lakers are really the only team in the league angling for Kyrie, and it makes a lot of sense why. Uncle Drew barely showed up for the Nets over the past three years, and that’s a team he specifically chose to join himself when he left Boston a few years ago. Put him on a team he doesn’t want to be on, and there’s no way anybody will be able to trust him to play, even as a rental.
Throughout this whole process, Kyrie has made it pretty clear that he wants to link up with LeBron. Unless the Nets do something totally unexpected here, Kyrie Irving is going to get what he wants… one way or another.
