News that took everyone by surprise, especially now that things between the Brooklyn Nets and Kyrie Irving seemed to have settled down for several weeks: the former Cavaliers player, not satisfied with the offer received from the New York team for his renewal, has made it known that he wants to leave the team before the deadline of February 9th – otherwise, as a free agent, he will switch franchises in the summer, leaving the Nets with nothing. A complicated situation to manage, but which immediately led to many chain reactions: the one that obviously attracted everyone’s attention is LeBron James, Irving’s former teammate and main suspect to become the next to convince one of the NBA’s most talented point guards to pick the Lakers. The two emoticons chosen for his tweet leave enormous room for interpretation, so much so that Kyle Kuzma (ironic, but not too much) even talks about tempering by James.
The Lakers offer for Irving: Westbrook and the two first round picks in the Draft
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Kyrie Irving is asking for a trade from the Brooklyn Nets
Now that the dances have officially opened – complete with a countdown in a real race against time to catch Kyrie Irving – the Lakers have decided to go immediately without failputting on the plate the only two valuable pieces available to a franchise that has invested a lot to try to win right away: the two first-round picks in the 2027 and 2029 drafts, which combined with Russell Westbrook’s expiring contract could be the basic package to convince the Nets (the yellow-purples would like to make at least one of the two choices “protected”, in order to be protected if that call ends up in the top-5). The intention of the Los Angeles team is to ask the Lakers not only for Irving, but also for another useful piece to lengthen the rotation – we are talking about Joe Harris – to complete the team and aim for the NBA title. If in Brooklyn they are not satisfied with the offer, the Lakers are already moving to bring in other teams and include other players in a three-way exchange: in short, the idea that Irving can wear the yellow-violet shirt as early as next week appears far from remote.