Lakers to exhaust all options to acquire Kyrie Irving before making other trades?

For months, NBA observers speculated about the deteriorating relationship between the Nets and Kyrie Irving. When the team and player couldn’t agree on a long-term deal and he was rumored to be on the trade block, it turned out that the Lakers were the only team willing to bring on the mercurial star and his hefty contract next season.

However, as the weeks have passed by that possibility has seemed less likely. That facts would suggest it may be time for the Lakers to switch from trying to trade for Irving and focus their offseason strategy on other players.

Despite rumblings of possible deals with the Indiana Pacers for Myles Turner and Buddy Hield or rumors of interest in Houston Rockets veteran Eric Gordon, NBA insider Marc Stein believes the Lakers are likely to hold off on such moves until they know acquiring Irving is an impossibility.

“I tend to agree with the notion that the Lakers, above all, would also prefer to hold off on secondary trades, like the various Indiana options or a potential Eric Gordon deal with Houston until they know that acquiring Kyrie Irving from Brooklyn is no longer an option.”

Marc Stein on Lakers pursuit of Kyrie IRving

The Lakers have reportedly spoken with the Pacers about a deal that would include Westbrook. However, because the former league MVP has such a massive contract next season, most teams want a future first-round pick in return to take on his salary. The same is true if the Lakers wanted to do the same to land Irving from the Nets, meaning they would rather prioritize those picks for an Irving trade.