Kyrie Irving and the Los Angeles Lakers continue to seek a partnership, but trade talks with the Brooklyn Nets have been slow to develop.
“Kyrie Irving absolutely wants to be a Los Angeles Laker,” said Brian Windhorst. “This we know. The Lakers want Kyrie Irving. This we know. But making that happen, that’s a different story. We don’t really get a good feeling there’s any team seriously on the market for Kyrie right now beyond the Lakers. It’s doesn’t mean they don’t like him or value him, they just don’t want to pay a potential price the Nets are asking. This is one of those things where we just have to wait and see.
“I doubt Kyrie will be back [with Brooklyn], I think he’ll be on the Lakers, but I don’t know when it will happen.”
Irving opted into his $36.5 million player option with the Nets for the 22-23 season, which is the final year of his contract.
“There’s just not a lot of bidders here,” said Windhorst.
“The Lakers are going to low ball the Nets, and obviously that has happened so far, because they know they are bidding against themselves for the most part. Most teams who have been mentioned in the Kyrie sweepstakes have run away from even being attached to it in rumors.
“The one thing that is a potential change agent here is LeBron James wants Kyrie Irving. It’s not because he wants Kyrie Irving because he’s the best teammate and his history, he wants Kyrie Irving because the Lakers can get him. He doesn’t have a whole lot of choice and he knows he has a contract extension situation coming up. That’s the change agent. If there’s no deal by early August when LeBron can extend, will LeBron use that as a leveraging point to force the Lakers? If I were the Nets, I would be hoping so.”