With the Los Angeles Lakers season done, the focus is now on the front office’s moves in the summer, most notably on whether or not they would trade for Kyrie Irving — a player long associated with LA.
And according to ESPN’s Bobby Marks, chances of that happening are unlikely as it would mean the Lakers getting into a crunch financially and from a roster structure perspective.
“Do they search for a third star again, such as Kyrie Irving, but at the expense of their depth?” Marks wrote. “This is extremely unlikely for two reasons. It would be a repeat of the first half of the season when the Lakers struggled with a top-heavy roster. Also, building a roster to compete for a championship centered on three players earning $130 million is extremely difficult under the new collective bargaining agreement.”
Marks added that acquiring the Dallas Mavericks’ guard comes at a heavy price. While the team could waive Jarred Vanderbilt and Mo Bamba and not exercise Malik Beasley’s contract to create cap space, they would also have to shop D’Angelo Russell, Lonnie Walker IV, and Rui Hachimura. And Irving would have to take a pay cut atop all this.
Quite simply, this would deplete the Lakers of their depth, which was one of their biggest strengths this season after the trade deadline. Adding the mercurial former NBA champ may elevate the Lakers to a win-now side, but it will surely have its ramifications in the longer run.
Brian Windhorst Believes The Lakers Could Land Kyrie Irving, While Also Retaining The Services Of Austin Reaves
While it comes with a fair share of complications and compromise, ESPN analyst and NBA insider Brian Windhorst believe the Lakers could sign Irving and retain Reaves, who has been their trump card for the last two seasons.
“I could just see Kyrie ready to come and the feel on like, ‘Look, we just got to the Conference Finals, imagine if we replace Russell with Kyrie?’ The Lakers have fallen for this before,” Brian Windhorst said on The Hoops Collective. “The way this is ending, I think it’s increasing the chance of it happening.”
Earlier, James’ comments on his potential retirement were also looked at as a tactic from his end to pressure the Lakers’ front office to land Irving. All said it will be one sizzling summer in LA, with the illustrious franchise having some tough calls that they need to make. And by the end of it all, there’s no telling whether Irving will actually take the floor as a Laker next season.
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