After the Los Angeles Lakers were swept by the Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference Finals, some fans are holding out hope that the team will once again go after Kyrie Irving.
There has once again been speculation that Irving wants to join the Purple and Gold and that LeBron James, his former teammate, badly wants a reunion to happen. In fact, some believe James’ suggestion that he may retire this offseason is nothing more than a ploy to pressure the Lakers’ front office to land Irving.
But according to NBA reporter Marc Stein, the Dallas Mavericks, Irving’s current team, have no interest in signing and trading him to L.A. for a package including D’Angelo Russell. Russell, like Irving, will be a free agent this summer.
But Stein also said that there are no signs that the Lakers are even interested in Irving (h/t Silver Screen and Roll).
Via Marc Stein Substack:
“While we await a clear indication about the Lakers’ intentions there, with no verifiable signal to date that pursuing Irving is among their offseason priorities, league sources say that the Mavericks would have no interest in a sign-and-trade with the Lakers that features D’Angelo Russell as the primary Dallas-bound player. All indications are that the Mavericks remain intent on re-signing Irving.”
Even if the Lakers were interested in getting Irving, it’s very hard to imagine Mavs owner Mark Cuban working with them in good faith to make it happen.
