It was revealed today that the Los Angeles Lakers almost traded for Kyrie Irving during the 2021-22 season.
On a podcast appearance, Kyrie Irving himself revealed that at one point last season, due to his ineligibility to play games with the Nets due to his vaccination status, the Nets almost considered trading him. And one of those destinations could have been to the Lakers, a reunion with former teammate LeBron James.
According to NBA insider Ian Begley, a potential destination for Irving would have been LeBron James and the Lakers. However, no specifics of the discussion are known, but what is known is that they never got off the ground. With Russell Westbrook becoming a thorn in the Lakers’ side, the team felt they needed to trade for something more, but this ultimately never came to fruition.
Kendrick Perkins: "If im the Lakers I would consider trading Anthony Davis for Kyrie Irving."
Stephen A Smith: "WHAAAAAAT?!?!?!?"
Thoughts!? pic.twitter.com/o8uTwETxva
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) May 6, 2022
“It was only the journey to enjoy at that point, because I was sitting at home and I don’t even want to say sitting at home, I was wondering at home what my future was going to look like, you know?” Irving said on the ETCs podcast. “Whether I was going to be traded, whether I was going to be released, whether I was going to get the opportunity to be on another team, how I was going to spin this for myself in a positive way.”
LeBron James and Irving’s time with the former teammate was also brought up on the podcast. After James previously said he was “hurt” by a comment Irving made on the podcast last time about taking the final shot of a game, Irving cleared up those concerns. “I would never slight him,” Irving said. “I respect the hell out of him and we’ve been through our own battles as teammates, as competitors together… that s**t… that’s like water under the bridge.”
What do you think of Irving’s comments on the ETC podcast, and the thought of a potential Lakers team with Irving and James reunited? Let us know, by either leaving a reaction below or by sending us a tweet at @celebsecrets.
