The Los Angeles Lakers fell short of their goal. Despite being one of the best teams in the second half of the NBA season, Anthony Davis’ offensive shortcomings, LeBron James’ age, and the Denver Nuggets’ great play sent them back home.
Notably, the team isn’t too far off from being a legit NBA championship contender. But it’s evident that they badly need an upgrade at the point guard position.
And with all then rumors about LeBron James not being much of a fan of D’Angelo Russell, a report by Heavy Sports recently confirmed that he’s pushing for his team to replace him with Kyrie Irving.
LeBron James Wants The Lakers To Replace D’Angelo Russell With Kyrie Irving
However, the report also states that the Dallas Mavericks have no interest or incentive whatsoever in helping Kyrie or the Lakers with a sign-and-trade unless Austin Reaves and/or Anthony Davis become available:
(Transcript via Heavy)
“‘While we await a clear indication about the Lakers’ intentions [regarding free agency], with no verifiable signal to date that pursuing Irving is among their offseason priorities, league sources say that the Mavericks would have no interest in a sign-and-trade with the Lakers that features D’Angelo Russell as the primary Dallas-bound player,‘ [Marc] Stein wrote. ‘All indications are that the Mavericks remain intent on re-signing Irving.
LeBron James wants the Lakers to replace Russell with Irving, sources told Heavy Sports. However, Los Angeles doesn’t have the cap space to sign Irving, who is looking for a max contract.”
Truth be told, it doesn’t seem like the Lakers can pull this off unless Kyrie somehow accepts to take a massive paycut, so Rob Pelinka might have to look somewhere else for his new point guard, as Russell simply isn’t likely to be a part of the team going forward.
