Whether Kyrie Irving gets dealt from the Nets to the Lakers continues to dominate the NBA offseason.
The two teams were also reportedly working on a deal over July 4th weekend, according to SNY’s Ian Begley, who was a guest on the “New York State of Mind” podcast hosted by Jake Fisher on Friday.
“I know that some people with the Lakers, they felt there was pretty good momentum towards getting something to the finish line, close to the finish line, on Russell Westbrook and Kyrie last weekend,” Begley said of a potential swapping of the two mercurial superstars. “And obviously, it falls apart and maybe that has to do with what the Nets ultimately want from that transaction. But it just shows you how many different pieces have to fall into place to actually get something done here.”
Though sources told The Post’s Brian Lewis recently that a deal for Irving being close to done are “premature,” it also might be a matter of when, not if, the Nets send Irving to Los Angeles.
At halftime of the Lakers-Suns summer league game in Las Vegas on Friday night, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski also said the Nets are focused on trading Kevin Durant before doing any potential deal involving Irving.
Meanwhile, multiple Lakers were in attendance for the game, including LeBron James and Westbrook. The two Lakers stars sat on opposite sidelines, however, with Westbrook departing at halftime and James leaving from a different exit after the third quarter.
Where does all this leave the Lakers and their new head coach Darvin Ham?
“We love everyone on our roster,” Ham told reporters Friday during halftime of the 104-84 loss. “And until you’re not on our roster, you’re ours and we’re going to try to get better with the group that we have. That’s just the bottom line of it.
“I don’t know a player that’s come through this league in my 26 years that hasn’t had their name part of a trade rumor a time or two. But, it is what it is. It’s the nature of the beast of our business. And so, again, the guys we have on our roster I’m very thankful for, I’m proud of and we want to maximize everything they can do to help us get to that ultimate goal.”
An Irving-Westbrook swap would also be complex for myriad reasons. For one, a third team would all but guaranteed to be involved — according to ESPN’s Dave McMenamin, the Pacers and Lakers discussed a “multiplayer deal” but it didn’t go anywhere because Indiana didn’t like the offer. ESPN’s Brian Windhorst also said on Friday night that there has been more chatter in the last week about teams that aren’t interested in Irving than teams that are.
