- Report: Lakers have new plan for LeBron James in terms of minutes and workload
- Report: Buzz around Lakers is Anthony Davis is in best pre-training camp shape he’s been in since joining franchise
- Darvin Ham offers update on Lakers’ final spot in starting 5
- Report: LeBron James has been personally working with Rui Hachimura all summer
- Report: LeBron James’ intense practice routine has rubbed off on Rui Hachimura
- Lakers insider drops truth bomb on health of LeBron James and Anthony Davis heading into 2023-24 season
- Report: LeBron James has ‘revamped energy,’ been working out before sunrise and doing 2-a-days
- Nick Young takes personal shot at Marcus Spears as he scolds ESPN
- Report: Jrue Holiday interested in joining teams like Lakers and Heat
- Magic Johnson points to Finals MVPs, other accolades, as he destroys Stephen Curry in GOAT point guard debate
Draymond Green calls Joe Tsai ‘petty’ for not trading Kyrie Irving to Lakers
- Updated: February 8, 2023
When Kyrie Irving requested a trade from the Brooklyn Nets last week, many assumed that he would end up on the Los Angeles Lakers.
Now that Irving is officially a member of the Dallas Mavericks, fellow NBA star Draymond Green has called out Nets governor Joe Tsai for not dealing with the Lakers.
Draymond Green Calls Brooklyn Nets Owner Joe Tsai Petty #NetsWorld
H/T @TheVolumeSports pic.twitter.com/S3ysEU5olx
— NetsKingdom 👑🗽 (@NetsKingdomAJ) February 8, 2023
“I am told that they would not trade him to the Lakers, and that is what I call billionaire petty,” he said. “That is Joe Tsai saying, ‘Listen man, that’s where he want to go? I don’t care if they offer the best deal or not. I can be petty too.’ And billionaire petty is a different level of petty. And not many people can compete with billionaire petty.”
Based on what is known about Irving’s approach, it certainly seems possible that his preferred destination was L.A. He made news shortly after the trade to the Mavericks became official when he referred to what “could have been or what should be” when when talking about being linked to the Lakers.
Kyrie on hearing how LeBron wanted him to be a Laker pic.twitter.com/D2wOtM9Bwm
— Ohm Youngmisuk (@NotoriousOHM) February 7, 2023
For the Lakers, their inability to get a deal done for Irving now leaves them with just over 24 hours to try to make moves to improve the roster. The Lakers now have the NBA’s all-time leading scorer in LeBron James, but that fact hasn’t led to consistent winning this season.
The Lakers are 25-30 on the season, and the proximity that they once had to a playoff spot and berth in the play-in tournament is starting to slip away. They’re now two games back from the No. 10 seed in the Western Conference and four games back from the No. 6 seed.
There certainly has been no lack of rumors and reports when it comes to which players the Lakers might be interested in adding prior to the trade deadline. Though, it seems highly unlikely that they’ll be able to acquire a star of Irving’s caliber.
However, there is no reason why a trade or two to add some really valuable rotational players can’t get done. Only time will tell.
If the Lakers prove unable to make a move, it seems highly likely that the team will miss the playoffs for the eighth time in the last 10 years.