The Lakers may not have interest in a sign-and-trade deal for Kyrie Irving, but sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic that Irving has reached out to LeBron James to see if they can reunite in Dallas (Twitter link).
That report meshes with a story by Chris Haynes of Bleacher Report, who hears from league sources that Irving wants the Mavericks to pursue an offseason trade for James to form a new Big Three alongside Luka Doncic.
Sources tell Haynes that Dallas was preparing to make an offer for James before this year’s trade deadline. However, that would not have been possible, as James was ineligible to be traded after signing an extension last summer.
James has dropped hints about wanting to play alongside Irving again, and the Lakers were reportedly strong candidates to acquire him when he considered opting out of his contract last summer and again when he asked the Nets for a trade in February.
L.A.’s asking price for James would surely be exorbitant if the team would consider a trade at all. He has one year remaining on his contract at $46.9MM and then a player option for the 2024/25 season worth $50.65MM.
Haynes points out that penalties imposed by the new Collective Bargaining Agreement will make it extremely difficult for any team to carry three max-salary players. He states that Irving and James would both have to take significant pay cuts to make the arrangement work and suggests that the most viable path for James to get to Dallas would be to demand a buyout with the Lakers, which Haynes admits is extremely unlikely.
James has a good relationship with Doncic, so that wouldn’t be an impediment to a potential deal, Haynes adds. He’s also close with head coach Jason Kidd, who formerly served as a Lakers assistant, as well as assistant coach Jared Dudley, an ex-teammate.
Re-signing Irving remains Dallas’ top priority for the offseason, sources tell Haynes. Even though they missed the playoffs, the Mavs see a bright future for their All-Star backcourt and are determined to keep Irving after giving up two rotation players and three future draft picks to acquire the 31-year-old guard from Brooklyn.
Lol, okay Kyrie.
So what Kyrie is saying he will not take a pay cut to play for the Lakers. For the Mavs to make this trade work for LeBron they would need to trade their 2nd, 3, 4, and 5th highest paid players for LeBron. In the end Kyrie resigns and Lebron stays in LA.
They still owe picks and cant trade any for several years with the protections too. There is zero reason for LAL to do this deal for a bunch of bad contracts like Hardaway and one first!
Take my magic beans and give me LeBron!
Of course lakers would never do it. That is the funny thing Laker fans claiming on twitter Luka for LeBron. Kyrie is just doing a message to lakers that he is not signing for nothing he wants a max contract.
0.0% chance of this happening.
I will repeat again that ultimately LeBron will be on the move, but not until one year from now. He is gonna opt out of the 2nd year of his contract. LeBron will then sign with whatever contender drafts Bronny. LeBron will then attempt to close out his career winning a ring with Bronny. LeBron, a billionaire, will be able to fit under any salary cap by taking a league minimum deal in exchange for chance to win ring with Bronny.
If Dallas moves into position to draft Bronny. Then they can absolutely add LeBron next year. Can not happen this season.
Lotta ifs and coconuts in there Barry
What is the Wiz draft Bronny ?
* Also money just meant nothing to LBJ last ext …. But ……..
“Come be the only guy who plays defense on the entire team, sounds like a W my King!”
Si reducieran los salarios de cada uno o si no pagaran impuestos por eccederse estaria bien
Nadie aceptará un recorte salarial y los Mavs no tienen los activos para hacer el intercambio.
¿Por qué publicamos en español?
Pero entonces los equipos ricos tendrían normalmente las mejores plantillas. Es una fórmula para tratar de equilibrar el sistema. De hecho, en mi opinión el límite salarial me parece excesivamente blando
En cierto modo, es demasiado suave, pero los equipos no deberían tener que pagar impuestos excesivos para retener a los jugadores que seleccionaron y desarrollaron.
Just when I thought Kyrie couldn’t possibly any more stupid.
million dollar athlete with a 10 cent , no , 5 cent brain.
Let me guess. His next career option was rapper??? Or possibly a rim designer like Sprewell?!
Isn’t Kyrie the guy that thinks the world is flat?
Kyrie was born in Australia, they got to him.
Classic Kyrie move. He’s just setting himself up to leave. So when people get mad at him after he gave the impression of wanting to stay, he can say that the Mavs wouldn’t get him help and that’s why he had to leave.
if the Mavs end up with all 3 of those guys they’ll only be able to afford 2 other guys at minimum salary and no bench players. league rules would have to change so the Mavs could play with only 5 players dressing up. their bench player could be Kidd .
That is not how minimum deals work…
Uhh, what?
Since LeBron is under contract to the Lakers, shouldn’t the NBA consider this contact as being tampering? If the contact was made by a off court member of the Mavericks it would be.
Kyrie is a FA, who would get slapped with tampering charges? The mavs? And if Kyrie signs elsewhere, are the mavs still on the hook?
Team employees such as GMs and coaches can tamper. Players cant. AD/LBJ met with Dame to try and get him to orchestrate a trade, and met with Russ before they acquired him…
You have it backward. Players can tamper, but team employees can’t.
It would be a great dream for Dallas but no Luka or Kyrie in the deal won’t happened.
Luka for a 38 year old injury prone and overpaid lebron???? Bwaaaaaaa
Hey Kyrie, how about you dribble the ball and shut up? Do YOUR job and leave the team building to the GM
Gotta love the old head “dribble a shut up” fools. Maybe you should flip the burger and shut up.
Nobody will or should trade for Davis Bertans and or Tim hardware jr
Has no one explained free agency to Kyrie Irving yet? He can just go join the team LeBron is on.
he wants that max contract from the Mavs. So he is saying no i am not joining the Lakers to play with Lebron he needs to join me.
Then I guess he doesn’t actually want to play with LeBron that badly. And he can’t be mad if the Mavs front office also doesn’t want LeBron that badly.
If Kyrie is serious about playing with Lebron, and both would have to take pay cuts to make it happen, why wouldn’t Kyrie just sign as a free agent with LA? Take a pay cut and I’m sure Bron can slide you 5-10 off of his salary. Seems way more possible than a trade to Dallas
After what the Heat have done coming from the play in all the way to the finals. I have lost a lot respect for the Mavs as an organization. A year after they play in WCF they throw games to secure the 10’pick. With arguably the best player in the league who always plays well in the playoffs and kyrie as a a number 2. Basketball is literally the only team sport where one player can make the difference for a ring. Let Kyrie have Lebron. But I wouldn’t be surprised if Luka demands a trade. Lebron would only take spotlight from his greatness.
Lebron and R. Williams to Dallas
J. Brown to LA
Luka to Boston
The media would go nuts and the NBA would dominate the sports world for a full year.
If the Mavs did that trade they should be retracted immediately. I can’t see how J.Brown equals Luka or how an old man and R.Williams equals Luka.
“I don’t care, he’s old”
Why are there so many clowns that think the Mavs would be willing to trade Luka for Lebron? Is this satire? Mavs aren’t trading Luka for anyone. Lakers aren’t trading Lebron. Give me a break.
Irving probably wants 5 years $210 million, but thats not happening either.
I wouldn’t give Kyrie half that over 5 years if I was a GM. The dude is a team wrecker.
Can someone please just tell this guy to shut up and just play the game. It amazes me how anybody would want this guy on their team. He can never learn that he is a cancer and has ruined every team he has been on.
Wow he really got under your skin lol you can spot the gamblers on this board a mile away
you really think the fact that someone doesn’t like Irving has to do with gambling? “Got under your skin” as if he just did something petty? Guess you missed his whole stint of “DNP – antisemitism”
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Love Kyrie, dude cracks me up.
I mean, he’s been in Dallas for two months, helped lead the team to a worse record than they had pre-trade and has very few suitors for himself in FA as most teams don’t want the headache that comes with the Kyrie show. He now feels that he has the right to request the Mavs, who have nothing of interest to offer in a trade for a superstar anyway, to go get LBJ?!
Don’t know if he heard, but James Harden just called the Harris Blitzer group and told them he would like the 76’ers to trade for Giannis, Jokic, Tatum, Lillard and LeBron.
Bbaaahhhhahahahahahahahahaaafsceyrieodksg eirodbhahahahahahahaha!!!!
This is the guy KD picked to play with over Steph. I still laugh about it.
As usual Kyrie is a headcase, nothing has changed. Me first sit out mentality but still wants his money, common. With that being said, is Lebron really worth 50-60 million a year? After having watch Lebron last season, his game needs to desperatly change if he wants to win anything and im not sure thats possible at 39 years old. Yeah he averages almost 30 points a night but that comes at a cost. 1. He shoots almost every shot, 2. Hes not even league average at 3 pointers, 3. He is way too ball dominant, 4. Hes older now so he sacrifices defense to get his 30 points a night, 5. One of the worst defenders in the league, 6. Final point is he puts down everyone on his team but himself for losses. Why would I spend 60 mil on Lebron at age 39 when I could realistically have 2 borderline all stars for that type of money. Honestly the Lakers should have to give up draft capital for the Mavs to take his contract. Luka is ball dominant and he controls that team, Lebron would need to switch up his game to be effective and sacrifice a bit
Is Mark Cuban a Lebron man?
I don’t think he is!
Not only that, how does Iriving fit in the Maverick backcourt?
I don’t think he does
SMH
Well the Mavs can only trade are #10 and the 27 1st.
So I don’t think those picks, THJ, Bullock, and Bertans gets it done.
Like in what world does LAL say “yea sure well take your garbage for the 2nd best player of all time”.
I mean they’d get a better package from a lot of other teams. They would go from WCF to lottery team next year.
There’s no way LeBron goes to play in Texas.
Mango Tree showing every ody what them Boston fans all about