I wonder how resolute the Nets are, whether they'd just hold onto Irving and Durant if the offers aren't good enough. Durant has four years on his deal, he has no leverage at all--especially since he's a pretty sincere hooper, it's not believable that he'd go into Operation Shutdown. Even if he did, his trade value probably wouldn't dip much, since it wouldn't be due to injury. If the Lakers are offering unprotected first round picks, the Nets should probably swap Irving for Westbrook, rationally. But if they aren't, protected first round picks are of dubious value. It's probably worth more to prove you're willing to hold fast and get back leverage, as the Lakers need a good season pretty damn badly.
What goalposts am I moving? From my first reply to you I said... All-NBA players typically don't finish 11th. Therefore, his play doesn't impact winning anymore. 11th is out of the top 10. I've stuck to that in this discussion. I also made some points in the first post you replied to that I still stand by. I don't think the Lakers will win next season with LeBron playing a starring role with Kyrie and Davis playing supporting roles. I think those roles have to be reversed for the Lakers to match the expectations the trio would have. The history of Kyrie and Davis doesn't matter for next season because they have never played together. However, their histories do matter in terms of making All-NBA Teams and finishing so low in the standings because that was my point that you disagree with. But I think I'm correct in that unless you find multiple seasons in which they did what LeBron did last season in making an All-NBA Team and finishing 11th.
Kyrie Irving 'Absolutely' Wants Trade To Lakers, No Other Serious Bidders Kyrie Irving and the Los Angeles Lakers continue to seek a partnership, but trade talks with the Brooklyn Nets have been slow to develop. "Kyrie Irving absolutely wants to be a Los Angeles Laker," said Brian Windhorst. "This we know. The Lakers want Kyrie Irving. This we know. But making that happen, that's a different story. We don't really get a good feeling there's any team seriously on the market for Kyrie right now beyond the Lakers. It's doesn't mean they don't like him or value him, they just don't want to pay a potential price the Nets are asking. This is one of those things where we just have to wait and see. "I doubt Kyrie will be back [with Brooklyn], I think he'll be on the Lakers, but I don't know when it will happen." Irving opted into his $36.5 million player option with the Nets for the 22-23 season, which is the final year of his contract. "There's just not a lot of bidders here," said Windhorst. "The Lakers are going to low ball the Nets, and obviously that has happened so far, because they know they are bidding against themselves for the most part. Most teams who have been mentioned in the Kyrie sweepstakes have run away from even being attached to it in rumors. "The one thing that is a potential change agent here is LeBron James wants Kyrie Irving. It's not because he wants Kyrie Irving because he's the best teammate and his history, he wants Kyrie Irving because the Lakers can get him. He doesn't have a whole lot of choice and he knows he has a contract extension situation coming up. That's the change agent. If there's no deal by early August when LeBron can extend, will LeBron use that as a leveraging point to force the Lakers? If I were the Nets, I would be hoping so."
"A source close to Irving told The Post that a trade with the Los Angeles Lakers for the All-Star point guard has fallen through."
[Charania] Kyrie has made his intent to play out next season in Brooklyn and become an unrestricted free agent next summer. If Brooklyn do manage to find a deal for KD, they could then pivot to trade Kyrie. The price tag would be a first round pick or multiple first round picks.
The only trade with Lakers that makes sense is. KD and Kyrie for AD and Westbrook plus first round pick.
