While Kyrie Irving was criticized for a variety of reasons this past NBA season, he is still one of the best point guards in the game when he’s healthy. He has shown that he can be the No. 2 option on a championship team in the past.
There has been a lot of recent speculation that Kyrie Irving could potentially end up leaving the Brooklyn Nets this offseason. The team with the “most interest” in him is the Los Angeles Lakers, though he would have to opt-out of his player option and sign a $6 million exemption with them and lose a fair amount of money in the process.
“I think the one team with the most interest in Kyrie Irving are the Lakers. There’s really not a sign-and-trade scenario with Brooklyn that makes sense. Of course, if the Lakers want to offer Anthony Davis in a sign-and-trade, the Nets will do that, but that’s not going to happen. And so if you’re Kyrie Irving, you wait to get to the Lakers, opt-out of your contract next week and sign a $6 million exemption that the Lakers will have available. The difference with that and the Nets and his opt-in with the Nets is $30 million…”
“That list, in terms of teams like Dallas, Philadelphia, the Clippers, I don’t think there’s interest there. The Knicks, they have some priorities well ahead of Kyrie Irving, Jalen Brunson. For Dallas, they are trying to clear cap space to sign a free agent that’s not Kyrie Irving right now.”
NBA page StatMuse pointed out that Kyrie Irving would need to leave his hometown in Brooklyn, leave his best friend Kevin Durant and leave $30 million on the table to join the Los Angeles Lakers and LeBron James. StatMuse also added that if that happens, LeBron James will be “the greatest GM of all time.” A lot of NBA fans reacted to the Tweet, sharing their opinions about Kyrie Irving potentially joining the Lakers.
Things Kyrie needs to do to join the Lakers:
— Leave his hometown
— Leave his best friend
— Leave $30 million on the table
If LeBron pulls this off, he is the greatest GM of all time. pic.twitter.com/bHYQ06sSr1
— StatMuse (@statmuse) June 22, 2022
Kyrie Irving going to the Los Angeles Lakers would certainly change the landscape of the league. There’s no doubt that he’d be a good third option behind LeBron James and Anthony Davis, and he could make them contenders once again.
With that being said, Kyrie Irving’s current situation with the Brooklyn Nets isn’t bad either, as he has two stars next to him in Kevin Durant and Ben Simmons. It remains to be seen what Kyrie Irving will do in the offseason, but he can’t go wrong with either franchise.
