Kyrie Irving or D’Angelo Russell? The Lakers may wind up chasing whichever free agent point guard doesn’t sign with the Nets, according to Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report. Rumors have had Irving headed to Brooklyn for a few weeks, but there were rumblings recently that the Nets’ front office isn’t sold on Irving without Kevin Durant.
If Brooklyn adds Irving, that means Russell, a restricted free agent, will likely be renounced. If Irving goes elsewhere, the Nets are expected to work out a new deal with Russell. Either way, that puts a talented guard on the market for the Lakers, who are looking for someone to pair in a Big Three with LeBron James and Anthony Davis. Russell had a checkered history during the two years he spent in L.A., but Nick Young is gone, along with the other former teammates he feuded with.
Irving has championship experience and has played with LeBron before. However, at 27, he’s four year’s older than Russell and probably much more expensive. He won’t take less than a max deal, while Pincus suggests the Lakers may be able to land Russell for about $80MM over four seasons.
There’s also a sense that Irving is more difficult to handle, with a rival executive telling Pincus, “They’re both divas, but Irving takes it to another level. Russell may be high-maintenance, but he’s no Kyrie.”
- The Lakers are trying to convince the Hawks to become part of the Davis trade, ESPN’s Dave McMenamin said on Sports Center (video clip tweeted by Lakers Outsider). Lakers GM Rob Pelinka wants to open more cap room by sending Moritz Wagner, Isaac Bonga and Jemerrio Jones to Atlanta in a three-team deal. The Hawks agreed to a trade with New Orleans for the No. 4 pick on draft night, so it’s possible those moves will turn into a single transaction.
- L.A. sent $2.2MM to the Magic for the rights to the rights to the 46th pick, McMenamin tweets. They used that selection to take Iowa State’s Talen Horton-Tucker.
- The Lakers received permission from the Warriors today to talk to assistant coach Ron Adams, according to Ohm Youngmisuk and Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN. There’s no indication that Adams is interested in leaving Golden State, but L.A. could change his mind by making a large offer.
fyi bleacher report’s owned by lebron james.. not really credible source
No it isn’t. They are owned by TBS.
dig into the financials lbj’s part owner +10 yrs
So dumb.
Lakers need Hawks to agree to be part of the trade if they want to move it to a July 30th deal (based on matching contracts). That would open up significant cap space for the Lakers. They can move the 3 young players anywhere, and it doesn’t open up much space (maybe 2 mm in total).
Would that mean the Lakers wouldn’t have the room till July 30th? That’s almost a month after free agency
No, it means they would have more room until July 30th. That’s without regard to whether they trade more players away; that would obviously add to their space as well.
You are wrong. The desk will go through July 6 regardless. If the Lakers cannot trade the three players the have 27 m, assuming Davis waives his trade bonus. If they trade the guts they have 32. If NO agreed to July 30 they would not have had to deal anyone else.
Nobody said anything wrong, except you. Lakers cannot get to 32 mm in cap space if Davis, LBJ and Kuzma are all on the roster (regardless of whether Davis waives his kicker, and even there isn’t anyone else on the roster). It would be about 29.5-30 mm at 109-110 cap. At this point, it’s more than just the Pels that have to agree to wait, it’s the Hawks as well.
I live the idea of getting DLO back! He grew up in Brooklyn, became a pro. He would be the perfect 3rd man.
Lakers will be 7th seed next year. An improvement!
That’s dumb.
I’m with you—I’ll make prediction right now that Lakers won’t make playoffs. If David or lebron misses 20-30 games, which isn’t out of the realm of possibility, they’re going to be mediocre. You can’t win without competent players.
You can make this argument for literally any team in sports. “If their best player go down they will be screwed!”. Bold
I mean, the Raptors sat Leonard a bunch of times so….maybe depth is important too?
It wasn’t for a large chunk of time.. like 20 games in a row. It was a game here or a game there.
No, they will have the cap space on July 1st. The deal won’t be completed until July 30, which is why they would have the space to pursue another max player.
I’d like to see Kyrie come to lakers, just because I’m a Duke fan!
Me too that’s why I wanted Tatum over ball. Kyrie was hurt during the dance with Duke. Be nice to see him win with Lakers.
I’m all for dlo since he a cheaper option than say Irving or walker would be.the kicker is he only 23 . He be a solid player to build around. When LeBron gone and if they still have ad and kuz
The Nets made D-Lo. Sign him and Harris. Harris is a Winner. KD you never no how he will recover.
Pincus said the Lakers could TRY for 4/80 for Russell, “up to” 4/86. It was all pretty vague and lacked sourcing. If the Lakers are going to spend that, pry Brogdon out.
If the Nets sign Kyrie
The Knicks should look to DL
He’s survived the NY Media circus
If DR hits the market don’t be surprised if he goes to Boston it’s a perfect spot for him he’ll be able to throw it in the face of nets and lakers
And grow on a team with young stars
What stars? The stars in Boston are Kyrie & Horford, not young & not staying…
You don’t think Tatum and Brown aren’t going to average 20 each with those two gone?
That could be very good for the Hawks to make it a three team deal, Wagner would be great depth and Bonga could stick around end of the roster. I doubt they’d keep all three so Jones most likely out but if the Lakers just handing them away they should take advantage of it
Jones is NG and can just be released. Pels may value the extra 3.5 mm in cap space they’ll have on July 6th after the AD deal goes through. So, it’s not like they’re likely to agree without compensation.
Instead of going after another superstar, Lakers should focus on building a deep bench with players who either have championship experience or comes from a winning culture either in the pros or in college or both. I say that coz mindset is just as important as skillset.