D’Angelo Russell has played so poorly against the Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference Finals that one NBA insider believes the Los Angeles Lakers could get Kyrie Irving this summer.
Brian Windhorst of ESPN talked about the Lakers possibly signing Irving on the latest episode of his podcast, “The Hoop Collective.”
“The way this is ending, I think it’s increasing the chance of it happening,” Windhorst said. “It would take a little bit of maneuvering, and Kyrie would probably have to not take the max, or [the Lakers] would have to work on something with Dallas, but they can get there.”
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Irving becomes an unrestricted free agent this summer. He’s been heavily linked to the Lakers due to his rapport with LeBron James. Irving and James were teammates on the Cleveland Cavaliers from 2014-15 to 2016-17. The two All-Stars played in three NBA Finals and led the Cavaliers to the 2016 title over the Golden State Warriors.
“I could see [the Lakers] totally talking themselves into it and saying, ‘We didn’t get anything out of Russell, we didn’t get anything out of Vanderbilt, we’ll find another way to replace Hachmiura, and we didn’t get anything out of Beasley.’ I can see them talking themselves into [pursuing Kyrie] and it’s what I was thinking of tonight as I was watching the Nuggets put them down in the sleeper hold in the fourth quarter,” Windhorst said. “I’m like, ‘I could see it.’ I know it’s not something that Laker fans want to hear right now, but I think it’s going to be one of the big fallouts of how this offseason is going to go.”
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Russell has really struggled against the Nuggets. The one-time All-Star is averaging just 7.0 points and 4.0 assists while shooting 29.6% from the floor and 14.3% from 3-point range. Russell becomes an unrestricted free agent this offseason, so the Lakers and Mavericks could execute a sign-and-trade deal involving Russell and Irving.
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