The Los Angeles Lakers were swept out of the NBA playoffs by the Denver Nuggets Tuesday night.
Three years after the Lakers beat the Nuggets in the Western Conference Finals, Denver swept Los Angeles. Each game was close, but the Lakers never got on top.
This will be an important offseason for Los Angeles. Superstar forward LeBron James said he might consider retirement. If that happens, the team has to do everything in its power to build for the future.
But in the chance James stays, Los Angeles could make a key move and sign Kyrie Irving, who played the end of last season with the Dallas Mavericks. Irving is an unrestricted free agent.
The Lakers would have to move on from point guard D'Angelo Russell, who struggled in the conference finals. He averaged 6.3 points on 32.3 percent shooting.
An unnamed executive in a story by Heavy.com said the Lakers' pursuit of Irving, who was teammates with James with the Cleveland Cavaliers from the 2014-15 season to 2016-17, would require a sign-and-trade with Russell. They said that is unlikely.
Via Heavy.com:
“Does Dallas really want that? Maybe Russell is less of a headache than Kyrie but he is not as talented,” the exec said. “The Mavs might not have a lot of choices with Kyrie, but just taking back D'Angelo Russell straight up, that does not make them better. So why do it? And a lot of people in the (Lakers) organization think they need to keep Russell.”
Irving would give the Lakers another star who could help them compete for a championship. James could return on the final year of his contract, and the Los Angeles return forward Anthony Davis, who can sign an extension this summer.
But if the Lakers want to go this avenue with Russell, that would make acquiring Irving unlikely.
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