There has been a lot of talk lately about Kyrie Irving leaving the Brooklyn Nets to reunite with former teammate LeBron James with the Los Angeles Lakers. Some were quick to shoot down the prospect of Kyrie moving to Hollywood due to the financial implications of the deal, but as it turns out, there could be some real truth behind these rumors.
It was earlier reported that LeBron has been in contact with Kyrie as the latter's contract extension negotiations with the Nets remain at an impasse. For his part, it also appears that Irving might be willing to make a significant sacrifice money-wise just to be able to join LeBron's Lakers. This report comes via ESPN's NBA guru Brian Windhorst:
“There is a concern in Brooklyn that Kyrie, because he's not a conventional thinker, Kyrie could be inventive enough to leave the money on the table to go play with the Lakers and reunite with LeBron,” Windhorst said. “… Going to play with LeBron and the Lakers for the mid-level, you can't rule that out.”
$36.5 million. That's the amount of money Kyrie will have to turn down if he wants to leave the Nets. If he's serious about playing with the Lakers, then he will need to accept the fact that he's going to earn much less than that next season.
https://open.spotify.com/episode/4bZVYxusLFA542EmWlcgOm?si=b0c042c50ef648f3
LA does not have much cap room available — certainly nowhere near the $36 million Irving could pocket with the Nets next season — so as Windhorst suggests, a mid-level exception deal (likely going to be less than $10 million) might be the only way Kyrie is able to reunite with LeBron in Hollywood.