The week-long story about Kyrie Irving becoming an unexpected free agent rocked the basketball world extremely hard. Everyone started to come up with hypothetical trade situations. Eventually, it was revealed that Irving was most interested in going to the Lakers and playing alongside old teammates LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
The rumors of Kyrie going to the Lakers and being willing to take a $30 million pay cut ran amok as Lakers fans believed they found their unexpected savior in Irving after a season where they missed the Playoffs. There was increased reporting on the mutual interest between LA and Kyrie, with Adrian Wojnarowski also saying that the Lakers were the only team to bid for a sign-and-trade for Irving.
Irving unexpectedly was announced to be returning to the Nets for the final year of his contract by Shams Charania, squashing the growing rumors of a LeBron-Kyrie reunion in LA. Fans had a great time watching the Lakers’ big offseason ploy fail and mocked the team and LBJ for missing out on Kyrie.
Lakers fans thought they could sign Kyrie for 6Mil😭 pic.twitter.com/FZQJvZtnDn
— 𝙃𝙚𝙖𝙩𝘾𝙪𝙡𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙚 (@WadexFlash) June 27, 2022
Lakers thought they were getting him 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
— De🅿️ressed Warriors Fan 💔 (@GoIdenState) June 27, 2022
https://twitter.com/4pfwhodat/status/1541551276856676352
HAHAHAHAHA
— 🦌 (@SnellSZN) June 27, 2022
Lakers fans after Kyrie didn’t sign with them pic.twitter.com/5UFQOEZ11s
— 𝙂𝙧𝙖𝙮𝙨𝙤𝙣 (@BoMeltonSZN) June 27, 2022
Lakers fans realizing they not gettin Kyrie pic.twitter.com/jnrs1bETmj
— Fun Guy (@FunGuyBurner) June 27, 2022
Lakers fans rn pic.twitter.com/mcQvNijNFA
— Confused Houston Fan 🙃😕😐 (@Snyphe) June 27, 2022
LeBron to Kyrie next time he sees him https://t.co/WbQ0KNWuVs
— JW (@JWepp) June 27, 2022
LeBron hearing the Kyrie news pic.twitter.com/Dc8tRMzOnL
— Overtime (@overtime) June 27, 2022
Lebron seeing Kyrie opt back in with the Nets.
Knowing he’s gotta run it back with Russ. pic.twitter.com/pKQV3USSkt
— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) June 27, 2022
When Kyrie told LeBron he going back to the Nets pic.twitter.com/R9tsOlZJ1r
— Josiah Johnson (@KingJosiah54) June 28, 2022
How LeBron looking at Kyrie right now 😭 pic.twitter.com/COIwSljpE0
— NBA Memes (@NBAMemes) June 27, 2022
https://twitter.com/LeBronHours/status/1541552641284505600
Lakers Fans realizing they're running it back with Russ and not Kyrie pic.twitter.com/HZZGn4dGJM
— Knicks Memes (@KnicksMemes) June 27, 2022
Live look at Bron
— Sinai (@SinaiNot) June 27, 2022
Kyrie’s such a troll did all that just to get Lakers fans hopes up and then stays on the Nets 💀
— mev 🏀🧸🌹 (@mevvybear) June 27, 2022
hey @KyrieIrving pic.twitter.com/pTaeIbocZm
— LakeShowYo (@LakeShowYo) June 27, 2022
Kyrie after making the tough grueling and inspirational decision to make 37 million dollars and play basketball with Kevin Durant pic.twitter.com/Bai6Ze55UB
— ♨️patty_cake 🚀👹ﾒ𝟶 (@patty____cake_) June 27, 2022
https://twitter.com/LouAye_/status/1541553736484626436https://twitter.com/ramon_rican/status/1541553705035743238
It doesn’t seem like the Lakers even knew they would have a chance to pursue Irving until the contract extension talks fell through last week. It isn’t like the team had put in significant resources in making this deal a reality. Either way, it is tough to hear news like this about a coveted target.
Irving going back to honor his word this season doesn’t imply anything for the next, as he will definitely be looking at a possible exit then. Unless the Nets and Irving can finally agree on contract length.
Some suggest that Irving could still be traded. If that is the case, LA should stay by the phone for as long as possible to make sure that they don’t miss a call from Brooklyn about the availability of Irving.
