Lakers News: LA Has Fresh Stance On Kyrie Irving’s Free Agency
A lot of fans were curious when All-Star Dallas Mavericks point guard Kyrie Irving was spotted sitting court side at Crypto.com Arena and dapped up Los Angeles Lakers All-Star small forward LeBron James during an eventual 125-85 closeout Game 6 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies, which saw LA advance to the second for the first time in three years.
James had previously expressed a desire to trade for Irving this season, after he had been flipped from the Brooklyn Nets to the Mavericks but before LA had made its own flurry of offseason moves, which included a big upgrade at the point guard position in Russell, who had a huge Game 6 performance in scoring a team-high 31 points on 70.6% shooting from the field.
According to Tim Cato of The Athletic, Irving went so far as to commend James for his series victory in the Crypto.com Arena tunnel postgame.
Cato reports that a source informed him Los Angeles no longer intends to consider signing Irving, a 2023 unrestricted free agent, in the offseason. Adding the eight-time All-Star, who of course won a title with James on Cleveland in 2016, at a near-maximum number would necessitate that LA unload the contracts of several newly-added players.
Irving may be a transcendent offensive talent, but his deficiencies on defense and his head-scratching off-court behavior may not make him quite the upgrade over incumbent starter D'Angelo Russell, also an unrestricted free agent this summer, that fans may hope him to be.
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