Before the 2021-22 NBA season started, most experts picked the Brooklyn Nets and the Los Angeles Lakers as the favorites to face off in the 2022 NBA Finals. At the time, this prediction looked correct, as both teams had amazing squads.
In all honesty, they were superteams. As the Lakers had LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and Russell Westbrook on the roster, while the Nets had Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and James Harden.
Fast forward to now, with both teams failing to even make a dent in the postseason. Now, it seems like they are about to engage in a trade to swap out players. Yes, you read it right.
It was recently reported by Shams Charania that Kyrie Irving is at an impasse with the Nets. That means he could leave the Nets in the forthcoming offseason.
In the same report, Shams also revealed that the Lakers and the New York Knicks are the two frontrunners to sway Kyrie away from the Nets. But that begs the question of how the Lakers will sign Kyrie?
They cannot directly sign him since they will not be able to afford his current salary. So the only way to sign Kyrie for the Lakers is to via sign and trade. This leads to another question of whether they will trade Westbrook or Anthony Davis to acquire Kyrie.
Since Westbrook had a lackluster 2021-22 NBA season, he doesn’t have a huge value in the trade market. So to acquire Kyrie, the only way forward for the Lakers would be to part ways with AD. But NBA analyst Skip Bayless believes it is ridiculous to even think about doing that for obvious reasons.
The Lakers are going to acquire Kyrie HOW??? In a sign-and-trade for Anthony Davis? AD is more valuable now than a Kyrie who now believes there are far more important things in life than winning basketball games … which is great unless you want $50 mil a year to win games.
— Skip Bayless (@RealSkipBayless) June 21, 2022
“The Lakers are going to acquire Kyrie HOW??? In a sign-and-trade for Anthony Davis? AD is more valuable now than a Kyrie who now believes there are far more important things in life than winning basketball games … which is great unless you want $50 mil a year to win games.”
Kyrie’s inability to be available during games has put a major target on his back over the last 3-4 seasons.
So any NBA team is skeptical before even thinking of signing Kyrie. Now, the only question remains whether the Los Angeles Lakers will find a way to add Kyrie to the formidable duo of LeBron and AD? Or will we see a superteam with a trio of LeBron, Kyrie, and Westbrook?
Of course, it all depends, if Kyrie decides to leave the Nets in the first place. Otherwise, all the arguments about his future will become redundant.
