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According to NBA reporter Marc Stein, LeBron James is "rooting hard" for the Los Angeles Lakers to acquire Kyrie Irving from the Brooklyn Nets.  

Irving and James played together on the Cleveland Cavaliers, and they made the NBA Finals in all three seasons that they played together.  

In addition, they won the NBA Championship in 2016 against the Golden State Warriors, and completed the greatest comeback in NBA Finals history (they had been down 3-1). 

Currently, the Lakers are in a tough spot because they have no cap space for free agency, and they are coming off a season where they were the 11th seed in the Western Conference. 

Therefore, they missed both the play-in tournament and the NBA Playoffs. 

To add to their problems, they have an old roster (and Anthony Davis is injury prone). 

Irving is only 28-years-old, and had a lot of success with James, so they need to anything to get this deal done with Brooklyn. 

As for the Nets, they are in the middle of their own problems, because according to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski Kevin Durant has requested a trade from the team.  

Wojnarowski on Thursday: "Kevin Durant made the trade request directly to Nets owner Joe Tsai today, sources tell ESPN." 

Both teams had been expected to be playing for a title this season, and while Nets made the playoffs, they got swept in the first-round by the Boston Celtics. 

Neither team won a playoff game during the 2021-22 season, which was a major shock.