Over the last couple of days, one of the hottest trade rumors across the NBA has been the Los Angeles Lakers’ rumored interest in Brooklyn Nets star Kyrie Irving.
If Irving were to work on the Lakers, he would have to get along well with LeBron James, his old costar on the Cleveland Cavaliers.
It looks like James and Irving have been talking recently about possibly teaming up again, per Marc Stein.
“There are credible rumblings in circulation that Irving, for starters, has indeed had some recent contact with Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James, his former Cleveland teammate, to presumably discuss a potential reunion in Hollywood,” wrote Stein via his Substack.
Irving was originally the top pick in the 2011 NBA Draft by the Cleveland Cavaliers. He quickly became a star, and he gave Cavs fans hope for the future months after James unceremoniously left town.
But when James came back in 2014, he and Irving became one of the league’s better duos, and together they took Cleveland to the NBA Finals three straight times, winning it all in 2016.
Irving asked to be traded a year later, which started a long journey that took the New Jersey native to the Nets to team up with Kevin Durant.
The Irving-Durant tandem hasn’t been fruitful, and the star guard may want out of the New York City borough.
Because Irving is enigmatic, there are always questions about his commitment to basketball, but if his commitment will be absolute, he would likely represent the Lakers’ best hopes of winning at least one more championship while James is still an elite player.
