NBA Front-Office Insider Breaks Down Lakers' Path to Acquire Kyrie Irving
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DALLAS — The Los Angeles Lakers are seemingly in the market to find a perimeter star capable of shouldering more responsibility on offense to take pressure off of LeBron James next season. The top name that continues to be linked in speculation is Kyrie Irving, who averaged 26.9 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 6.0 assists after being traded to the Dallas Mavericks.
On the surface, the idea checks a lot of boxes. He won the 2016 NBA Finals with James and will be an unrestricted free agent during the summer. Add in Anthony Davis' elite defensive presence, and that's suddenly a tantalizing trio of stars.
When evaluating the Lakers' path to acquire Irving this summer while retaining restricted free agent Austin Reaves, ESPN NBA front office insider Bobby Marks explained the limitations from a team-building standpoint that'd arise from such a move.
Marks calculates the Lakers could create nearly $30.5 million in cap space, which would still fall well below Irving's max salary of $47 million. Even that level would require waiving Jarred Vanderbilt and Mo Bamba and renouncing their free agent cap holds for players like D'Angelo Russell, Lonnie Walker IV, and Rui Hachimura.
“The Lakers could create up to $30.5 million by waiving Jarred Vanderbilt, Mo Bamba, not exercising Malik Beasley’s team option and renouncing free agents D’Angelo Russell, Lonnie Walker IV, and Rui Hachimura," Marks wrote. "The cap space would increase to $35 million if they trade Max Christie and their first-round pick.
"However, the starting number on Irving’s max salary is $47 million. In the scenario that the Lakers do utilize their $30.5 million in room, the resources to build the roster around LeBron James and Anthony Davis include restricted free agent Austin Reaves, Christie, the $7.6 million room exception and two draft picks. The rest of the roster would be filled out with players signed to the veteran minimum exception, leaving the Lakers’ depth vulnerable.”
The Lakers experienced significant success by scrapping the top-heavy roster model with Russell Westbrook in favor of adding depth around James and Davis. It ultimately led them to a Western Conference Finals appearance. It doesn't sound as though the front office plans to deviate from that approach, either.
“We’re incredibly proud of this group, getting to the Western Conference Finals,” Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka said on Tuesday. “After the trade deadline, we had one of the top records in the league. I think keeping that continuity is going to be very important. We ultimately got knocked out by a team that has great continuity.
“I would say this resoundingly clear, our intentions are to keep our core of young guys together,” Pelinka said. “We saw incredible growth and achievement by Rui (Hachimura), Austin — I could go down the list — Vando, D’Lo. We have a lot of great young players, and we want to do our best to fit the puzzle together...Again, without talking specific players, we’ll do our best to keep this group intact and growing and getting better each year.”
Much of the Lakers' outlook to acquire Irving would rely on the Mavs' willingness to facilitate a sign-and-trade agreement. Plenty of scenarios would require additional cooperation from the players involved. Meanwhile, there would be significant worries about staying under the hard cap and still having a suitable supporting cast regardless of the approach.
While there continues to be a lot of outside conversation about Irving and the Lakers, the Mavs remain optimistic about their outlook to re-sign him. The team parted with Dorian Finney-Smith, Spencer Dinwiddie, a 2029 first-round pick, and multiple second-round picks to bring Irving to Dallas.
Grant Afseth is a Dallas Mavericks reporter for DallasBasketball.com and an NBA reporter for NBA Analysis Network. He previously covered the Indiana Pacers and NBA for CNHI's Kokomo Tribune and various NBA teams for USA TODAY Sports Media Group. Follow him on Twitter (@grantafseth), Facebook (@grantgafseth), and YouTube (@grantafseth).
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