The Los Angeles Lakers are reportedly not keen on acquiring Kyrie Irving over the summer.
Per The Athletic’s Tim Cato, “And no matter how close Irving might be to 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.”
The chatter around Irving to the Lakers increased after the Dallas Mavericks guard was seen during the Los Angeles Lakers vs. Memphis Grizzlies Game 6, and his exchange with LeBron James flared up the chatter of the duo reuniting next season. However, it appears that’s not happening anytime soon.
This comes on the back of conflicting news that a source told Heavy. “You get into a relationship with Kyrie at your own risk,” the executive said. “I don’t see how he and Luka work, never did. I guess Dallas felt it was worth a shot, but even now, it’s hard to see them getting the right pieces to put around them. I’m not sure you can. You’ve got two ball-dominant guys who neither one really knows how to play without the ball, and neither one knows how to defend. It’s not a winning situation.”
Earlier, the Mavericks maintained their stance that re-signing Irving was a top priority. But with recent developments propping up, only time will tell if he will indeed remain a Maverick, or whether the Lakers decide to pull the trigger and manage to get Irving onboard.
NBA Executive Predicts That The Lakers Will Sign Kyrie Irving In The Summer
Prior to Cato’s report on the Lakers not being interested in signing Irving, an anonymous NBA executive believed that LA would make a move on the prolific guard.
“They’ve got to look at this as, OK, how many years does LeBron have and how many years can they actually keep Anthony Davis engaged? Because AD ain’t got any great love for this game. So their window is a short one. Do they go after the superteam piece and figure out how to bring Kyrie in there? You know damn well Kyrie is not coming in for a discount,” said the exec.
“So do you stay the course and stick with D-Lo (Russell) and Rui and all of that group and say, ‘OK, let’s play with the two stars and try and have some reasonable depth’? I predict that they’ll try to figure out a way to pay Kyrie Irving and bring him in.”
As for the Lakers, their onus will be on the season now as they gear up to face the Golden State Warriors in the second round of the playoffs, and it remains to be seen if there are a few more Irving appearances at the Crypto.com Arena. If so, expect the “Irving to the Lakers” conversation to only grow louder.
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