Lakers Rumors: Kyrie Irving Considered to Be LA's 'Number One Target'
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After a flurry of free agent signings, Lakers fans have a pretty clear picture of what the roster will look like for next season. LA inked Troy Brown Jr., Damian Jones, Juan Toscano-Anderson, and Lonnie Walker IV to deals and also signed Scotty Pippen Jr. and Cole Swider to two-way contracts. Despite those transactions though, the Lakers are still considered to be in the hunt for Kyrie Irving.
Kyrie opted into the final year of his contract, and now that Nets co-star Kevin Durant has requested a trade, the Nets could conceivably trade both stars to jumpstart a rebuild they didn't see coming.
The Lakers still need quality shooters. The quartet of free agents they signed should help improve LA's defense, but none of them are exactly dead-eye shooters. Honestly, Swider could end up being the best marksman of the bunch, but he's still completely unproven.
ESPN's Dave McMenamin highlighted the Lakers need for shooting, and suggested that exploring a potential trade for Kyrie Irving is part of the equation.
"The next step, in what could be a five step process this offseason for this Lakers team is shooting. They believe they can find shooting via trade, Kyrie Irving would be the number one target."
Stephen A. Smith reported that Kyrie is telling "everybody he plans on going to LA" and Brian Windhorst noted that some NBA executives believe that the Lakers could theoretically make a trade for both Kyrie and Durant.
But at the moment, trading for both seems like a pipe dream assuming that the relationship between Durant and Kyrie isn't what it used to be. A hypothetical trade for both KD and Kyrie would probably also have to involve Anthony Davis despite reports from before Durant's announcement that the Lakers aren't shopping AD.
The Lakers have made most of their free agent moves, but the biggest move of their summer could be yet to come.
