Lakers Rumors: Insider Provides Latest on Mavericks Trading for Kyrie Irving
Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving continue to dominate the NBA world. Durant communicated to Brooklyn Nets owner Joe Tsai his desire to be traded on Thursday and the Nets were already clearly frustrated with the Kyrie situation after the guard voluntarily missed most of the season due to his stance on getting vaccinated. Irving has opted into the final year of his contract, but the Durant-Irving era in Brooklyn appears to be coming to an end. Could it open the door for the Lakers to bring Kyrie into the fold?
Despite some league executives floating the idea that the Lakers could construct a trade for both KD and Kyrie, it seems more likely at this juncture that trading solely for Kyrie is much more probable.
When Kyrie initially began kicking up dust about wanting to play elsewhere via a Sham Charania report last week, the guard reportedly wanted to land on the Lakers, Knicks, or Clippers. However, that list was then expanded to include teams like Dallas and Philadelphia.
However, Dallas, who recently lost All-Star caliber guard Jalen Brunson to the Knicks in free agency, isn't believed to be in on the pursuit of Irving according to Marc Stein.
"One source with knowledge of the team's thinking strongly dismissed the idea that Dallas would pursue a trade for Brooklyn's Kyrie Irving in the wake of Kevin Durant's trade demand."
Dallas does need to add some offensive punch, but it seems that, unlike the Lakers, they aren't foolish enough, or desperate enough, to explore adding an enigma like Kyrie.
On Saturday, Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports reported that the Nets and Lakers have "actively engaged" in trade talks centered around Kyrie Irving and Russell Westbrook.
At the moment, the talks have been labeled as "preliminary" by insiders and the Nets are reportedly in no hurry to jettison Kyrie until they're pleased with the return.
