The NBA’s offseason has officially begun, and chaos is already settling in less than a week after the championship series ended.
The Los Angeles Lakers and the Brooklyn Nets were the NBA’s two most chaotic teams last season. Both teams had massive payrolls and a bunch of superstars, but neither met pre-season expectations.
Kyrie Irving of the Brooklyn Nets has a player option in his contract, so he could become a free agent this summer. In the end, there’s no guarantee he’ll stick with the Nets.
Per Shams Charania, “an impasse currently exists among the parties” and that “clears the way” for him to “consider the open marketplace” around the league. There is a lot going on in that sentence, but basically, we need to start thinking about where else Irving could play next season.
“For the Lakers, the likely path to acquire Irving would be him opting in to facilitate a trade, because the Lakers cannot realistically clear cap space to sign him themselves, and a sign-and-trade would trigger the hard cap, thus making acquiring Irving significantly more difficult. If Irving would opt in, Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka would have to satisfy the collective bargaining agreement’s salary-matching rules, meaning if Irving’s $36.6 million was the only incoming salary, the Lakers could send anywhere from $29.3 million to $45.8 million to the Nets and/or a third team in a legal transaction,” added Shams about Irving joining the Lakers.
However, this is not the first time the rumor has been going around in the NBA, making us wonder if there might be any truth behind it.
Will Irving return to the Los Angeles Lakers this season?
It’s almost impossible for Irving to sign with the Lakers as a free agent outright, but the two front offices might be able to work something out with a potential sign-and-trade.
Irving has expressed regret over his relationship with LeBron James, claiming that if they had continued to play together, they could have won more championships.
It’s easy to fantasize about the two stars reuniting in Los Angeles, especially since there are conflicting reports about whether Brooklyn will even offer Irving a long-term contract extension. However, making such a deal work within the salary cap would be extremely difficult.
We should, however, have more information by June 29 in some form or another. That is the deadline for those who have a player option in their contract to decide whether or not to exercise it.
Marca
