Rumor: Lakers Planning Offseason Trade Offer for Mavs’ Kyrie Irving?
After standing pat at the NBA trade deadline, the middle-of-the-pack Los Angeles Lakers already have rumors surfacing about how they’re planning to pursue star players in the offseason, including Dallas Mavericks’ Kyrie Irving … and the price could be significant.
“Moving forward, the Lakers plan to use the three picks that they will have available this summer — 2031, 2029 and either 2024 or 2025, depending on which pick the New Orleans Pelicans choose to receive as part of their return for 2019’s Anthony Davis trade — to pursue a star via trade,” writes Jovan Buha of The Athletic.
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“Three potential targets are Donovan Mitchell, Trae Young and Kyrie Irving, according to team and league sources. The Athletic has previously reported on the franchise’s interest in Young and Irving.”
Irving has been linked to the Lakers several times over the last few years, but he’s also tried recruiting LeBron James to Dallas. As enticing as three first-round picks would be for the Mavs, who have very limited draft capital at their disposal for the foreseeable future, trading away Luka Doncic’s co-star right after adding significant roster pieces in P.J. Washington and Daniel Gafford would be a no-go.
Dallas might not quite be the scene Los Angeles is, but when it comes to basketball rosters, the Mavs are in a much better place than the Lakers are going forward. The Mavs have two superstars with young, talented depth surrounding them, and their time to win is now.
Maybe situations will change over the next 30 games, but if thing keep trending the way they have been, we stand by the notion that LeBron making his way to Dallas to compete for one more championship alongside Doncic and Irving is more rational than trying to win with Irving and an stripped-down depth in L.A.
