Kyrie Irving will be a free agent this summer and the star point guard has been rumored to be a target for the Lakers for over a year now in no small part because of his history with LeBron James. However, according to The Athletic’s Jovan Buha, Los Angeles won’t be pursuing him this offseason.
While appearing on the HoopsHype podcast, Buha reported that the Lakers made an offer to the Nets for Irving but ultimately felt like they were asking for too much—especially given the uncertainty that tends to follow Irving. So Brooklyn decided to deal him to the Mavericks. Meanwhile, Los Angeles made some big moves at the trade deadline themselves and have been playing well ever since then, even with the absence of LeBron James due to a right foot injury.
That being said, the Lakers intend to bring most of—if not all—their current players back and won’t try to take a big swing for Kyrie when free agency begins.
“From what I’ve been told by my sources around the organization, they wanted to run this situation [current roster] back,” Buha said. “It’s looked good so far. They’ve won a lot of games. They’ve done a lot of winning without LeBron James. That’s something that’s kind of been under-discussed. The non-LeBron minutes were always an issue for the Lakers going back to his first year in L.A.
“From what I’ve been told, they’re not going to be pursuing Kyrie Irving this offseason,” he continued. “Of course, that could change. To my knowledge and to what I’ve been told, the Kyrie ship, I think, has sailed. You never want to say never. That could easily change, but as of right now, their plan is to run this back.”
The Lakers are 5–4 since James’s injury and have been able to keep their head above water in the Western Conference playoff race. Los Angeles is currently the No. 10 seed with a 34–36 record but is only three wins behind the Suns at the No. 4 seed.
