The trade for Kyrie Irving between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Brooklyn Nets is looking more likely every day, with the lack of solid interest in Kyrie from any team not named the Lakers.
Direct trades are not working out due to the Lakers’ hesitancy to give up future picks for 1-year of Irving. Brooklyn also wants them to be saddled with the Joe Harris contract. The Nets are refusing to substitute Joe Harris for Seth Curry, creating more roadblocks for both teams.
Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report has given some insight into what the teams are trying to do for this trade to be feasible and has revealed that the San Antonio Spurs may be the facilitator of such a trade if they can offload veterans on long contracts.
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The Irving/Westbrook disaster could eventually be resolved with the Spurs help, with San Antonio taking on Westbrook’s salary into cap room for draft considerations. That would help the Nets generate a massive trade exception for as much as Irving’s entire salary. (h/t Eric Pincus – Bleacher Report)
The Nets won’t have to worry about trading Seth Curry or Joe Harris away to the Lakers in a deal to match Westbrook’s salary. The Spurs will have to send the Lakers either Josh Richardson or Doug McDermott, with McDermott still having 2-years on his contract. The Spurs are better off taking Russ’ expiring contract or talking about a buyout with him if a trade is made.
The report also suggests that the Nets could want to trade for Jakob Poeltl and make him the starting center in Brooklyn for a team that still is unsure of their future. The Irving trade would generate a massive trade exception that the Nets could use in the future for more roster moves.
Considering the value of Irving is pretty low on the market, this is how they can come out of it the best. An even larger trade could see the Lakers give up Russ along with either Talen Horton-Tucker or Kendrick Nunn to acquire Josh Richardson as well, with the Spurs likely to accept a young player like THT who they can develop.
