The Los Angeles Lakers entered the 2021-22 NBA season with championship aspirations. In the end, they failed to make the playoffs altogether.
Midway through their embarrassing campaign, L.A. attempted a course-correction. They put five players on the market ahead of the NBA Trade Deadline explored a variety of deals involving offseason acquisition, Russell Westbrook.
In the end, nothing materialized.
This week, an interesting new report emerged regarding the Lakers’ efforts as they pertain to Brooklyn Nets guard, Kyrie Irving.
As reported by Ian Begley of SNY, the Lakers’ front office legitimately contemplated a deal involving Irving.
“Several outlets, including SNY, reported that the Nets had been open to talking to teams about potential Irving trades during that time,” he wrote.
“Obviously, nothing came to fruition. But some members of the Lakers organization discussed the possibility of trading for Irving during that stretch of the season, sources say.
“The deal would have obviously reunited Irving with LeBron James. It’s unclear if the Lakers reached any internal consensus on Irving at the time.”
James and Irving obviously have something of a fascinating relationship. The former tries to publicly act like he is all good with the latter, but one of their recent in-person encounters suggests otherwise.
It seems like a trade in this case was never close, but could that change this summer?
New details from the night Kevin Samuels died.https://t.co/Nz9r7mRhrb
— Game 7 (@game7__) May 7, 2022
The Nets have made it clear in recent months that they’re open to a swap involving Irving. But it would need to be on the right terms. And it’s unclear if the Lakers have the assets necessary to pull it off.
This is shaping up to be a fascinating summer, though. Can L.A. finagle some sort of deal for Westbrook that’ll permit them to get the pieces necessary for an Irving trade?
Time will tell.
Related: Kevin Durant’s Blunt Text Message To Kendrick Perkins
A graduate from the University of Texas, Anthony Amador has been credentialed to cover the Houston Texans, Dallas Cowboys, San Antonio Spurs, Dallas Mavericks and high school games all over the Lone Star State. Currently, his primary beats are the NBA, MLB, NFL and UFC.
