Lakers Rumors: LeBron James 'adamant' that LA Needs to Trade for Kyrie Irving
On Wednesday, LeBron James inked a two-year extension with the Lakers. The deal, which pushes James' career earnings to a record breaking $532M, includes a player option for the 2024-2025 season. LeBron renewing his commitment to the franchise isn't a surprise, nor is the fact that he's reportedly still pushing for Rob Pelinka and the front office to pull out the stops for a Kyrie Irving trade.
In a Wednesday article, The Athletic's Jovan Buha noted that many insiders were confident that James would ink an extension, but Buha also reported that LeBron's 13 days of hesitation about signing a deal were rooted in his belief that the Lakers need to improve their roster...with a trade for Kyrie Irving (quotes via Buha) .
"The primary complication in James’ decision was that he has been privately adamant that the Lakers still need to improve the current roster and trade for superstar point guard Kyrie Irving, league sources have told The Athletic."
It's far from the first time that a report has surfaced about LeBron's desire to get his old running mate to LA and to get his current backcourt mate, Russell Westbrook out of town.
Earlier this month, before James signed the extension, NBA insider Marc Stein stated just that:
"As it stands, barring a trade to ship out Westbrook suddenly coalescing after weeks of fruitless talks, Ham is going to have to coach Westbrook, which is bound to be challenging in the extreme given that Westbrook is well aware that the Lakers have been trying hard to move him. And that James badly wants Irving to take his place."
It's not ridiculous to theorize that Pelinka and LeBron have some level of understanding that the Lakers front office could aggressively re-engage the Nets about a potential trade for Kyrie Irving before training camp this coming fall.
LeBron is in, that could mean, that Westbrook is on his way out.
