The NBA summer market does not start for another month, but rumors are already swirling in the Big League. Among the files that come up quite often, that of Kyrie Irving – future free agent – and a potential arrival at the Lakers. But obviously, the chances of this materializing are slim…
From the moment Kyrie considered leaving the Nets, his name started circulating around the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, home of his former teammate LeBron James. It is therefore natural that the rumors return to the front of the stage today, with the end of Irving’s contract with the Mavericks and the recent elimination in the Playoffs of the Lakers, weighed down in particular by the poor performances of the leader D’ Angelo Russell.
But between the idea of seeing Kyrie land in the City of Angels and the reality, there is obviously a real gap.
“If I had to give a percentage chance of Kyrie Irving coming to the Lakers, I wouldn’t go very high. Between 10 and 15%. It’s something that is possible, but there are so many factors that have to go in favor of the Lakers for it to happen.”
These words, they are signed Jovan Buha, who covers the Lakers for The Athletic. The insider justified this figure by highlighting the various factors involved, and by analyzing the two main scenarios.
Scenario 1: sign-and-trade
“In an ideal world, it would be done via a sign-and-trade, but the Mavericks don’t seem to want to collaborate. It would also push the Lakers towards the hard-cap, which would force them to make tough decisions going forward, and then they would lose several elements of the current team (Dennis Schroder, Lonnie Walker IV, and possibly Rui Hachimura ).”
Scenario 2: Kyrie arriving as a free agent
“More realistically, Irving would have to take a big pay cut to sign for the Lakers as a free agent, and he hasn’t indicated he wants to do that. And for that to be possible, the Lakers must first create salary margin by reducing the depth of the workforce.
As you have understood, neither of the two scenarios seems really credible at the time of these lines. Although, according to the sources of HoopsHypeno verbal agreement would have been established between Kyrie and the Mavericks at the time of the transfer in February, to see him land in Los Angeles remains rather illusory.
The real priority for the Lakers today is the contract extension of Austin Reaves, revelation of the season in LA and restrictive free agent. According to the latest gossip, the Californian franchise is ready to raise up to $100 million (over four years, $25 million per season) to keep its nugget, which would add a third big contract to the payroll after those of LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
Part 2 of my Lakers offseason mailbag:
— Chances LA pursues Kyrie Irving
— Their plans for the No. 17 pick
— The players more and least likely to return
— The three-guard lineups
— Max Christie’s development and more https://t.co/xwsANzqv4R
— Jovan Buha (@jovanbuha) June 2, 2023
In the end, the rumors concerning a potential arrival of Kyrie Irving in Los Angeles seem to be based more on the history between Irving and LeBron James (champions together with Cleveland in 2016), than on a real possibility. Every time Uncle Drew has been in the process of leaving for the past few months, there’s been talk of a reunion with the King but it never materialized.
The Lakers, authors of a very good second half of the season with the current nucleus, probably prefer depth and continuity than on a new association of stars. And even if we like the bling bling in LA, it may be the best thing to do knowing that the team is coming out of a qualification in the Western Conference Finals. But at the same time, we also know that when LeBron James wants something, he often gets it.
That’s specifically why we’ll be keeping an eye on the Kyrie case in the weeks to come…
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Source texte : The Athletic
2023-06-03 09:51:00
#Kyrie #Irving #Lakers #chance #insider
