Usually, teams and fans are thrilled to know that their All-Star guards will pick up their player options and return to the team. Thatās not the case with the Brooklyn Nets nor the Los Angeles Lakers right now.
As good as theyāve been throughout their careers, both Kyrie Irving and Russell Westbrook have been a massive headache for their recent teams. One rarely shows up and is often making the news for non-basketball-related events, and the other refuses to be held accountable or make adjustments.
But Kyrie wasnāt going to just walk away from $37 million, regardless of how disrespected he felt by not getting a max contract extension. The same can be said of Westbrook and his massive $47 million player option for this season.
NBA Rumors: Nets, Lakers Could āRevisitā A Kyrie Irving-Russell Westbrook Swap
However, even though it now seems like both franchises are stuck with their problematic players, Brian Windhorst of ESPN points out that they could still be traded at some point in the season. In fact, they could even swap teams:
āIām not gonna sit here and tell you that I think that this is gonna happen in the next two days, but if the Nets donāt get to a place with Kyrie Irving where they think that things will improve, I think theyāll revisit thisā¦ I donāt think itās impossible that they revisit this down the line,ā Windhorst said.
The Lakers made the Nets an offer for Kyrie, but they respectfuly declined. They were the only team that actually reached out to them in regards of the often-controversial star. As for Westbrook, heās already played with Kevin Durant, so maybe heād welcome a reunion.
Needless to say, neither of those players has been as good as advertised for their respective teams,and theyāre both far from fan favorites right now. So, donāt rule out a potential transaction somewhere down the line.
