Do The Lakers Have Enough To Land Kyrie?

Kyrie Irving is reportedly at an impasse with the Nets and it's cracked the door for the open market. According to Yahoo Sports' Shams Charania, the Lakers and Knicks have emerged as potential suitors.

Other than Russell Westbrook and maybe a couple other young pieces like Talen Horton-Tucker and Austin Reeves, LeBron's Lakers don't necessarily have much to offer. And the Knicks won 37 games in 2022 -- they don't have jack squat to throw the Nets in an Irving blockbuster, either.

But given the fact Kyrie Irving has been a headache everywhere he's gone, those lackluster offers still might be enough. We'll explain how.

Lakers

We have to get this out the way. Of course LeBron James, also known as LeGM, will do everything in his power to reunite with his former wingman. They won a championship together back in 2016 and they complimented each other's games well. Irving served as a gunner on the wings to score the basketball while LeBron played facilitator. But trade value wise, the Lakers will need to unload Russell Westbrook to make the money work. It's possible the Nets accept this because Irving hardly ever offers management or his teammates the luxury to assume he's showing to work. Irving sat out against the forced mandates half of this past year that led James Harden to ask for a trade, and then he missed games to attend his sister's birthday party.

To be fair, we defended Irving on the covid situation, but if it wasn't the vaccine, it would've been something else.

The Lakers are in a position where they need shooters. Kyrie Irving is a fantastic shooter of the basketball and Russell Westbrook most definitely is not. It's possible Kevin Durant would approve of a deal for his former pal to join him in Brooklyn that would allow the Lakers to rob them of the better player. Obviously Irving is the more talented player, however reliability makes this deal more even than people want to acknowledge. Plus, LeBron, AD, and Kyrie Irving would make one hell of a trio.

Knicks

The New York Knicks could offer a package that lands them Kyrie -- they just don't have a cast that can hold Kyrie Irving's attention span. Irving has only succeeded alongside LeBron James in Cleveland, he made a mess of Boston as a Celtic, and then handpicked KD and the Brooklyn Nets, all leading to his unhappiness.

Suddenly Kyrie will be happy he's staying in New York to play with a bunch of young players? A situation he already dealt with prior to LeBron in Cleveland? The business side of basketball suggests he'd make far more money as a Knick, but Irving hasn't shown us any sign he gives a rip about being a businessman.

We still think the Nets would be fools to take on Westbrook's remaining year, yet we've seen worse trades. Will this trade happen and create another big three in the NBA? Doesn't always mean winning when your best player is entering year-20 of his career. It does, however, mean the Lakers will at least be must-see TV again.