Kyrie Irving at the Lakers is a rumor that has come up very often since last summer. The point guard eventually ended up at the Mavericks, where he hopes to win the title alongside Luka Doncic. In a press conference, Rob Pelinka returned to the failure of this soap opera… with a very simple reason.
Despite many rumors over time, Kyrie Irving did not finish with the Lakers. The leader however had an interest in joining the City of Angels, in particular to play with LeBron James. Both men were in favor of a reunion… except the Nets obviously had other plans in the market.
Rob Pelinka dropped a big offer to sign Kyrie, including two first-round draft picks in the offer, in addition to Russell Westbrook. Insufficient for the Nets, who asked for a rain of assets in return according to several insiders. A price the Lakers did not want to pay for someone who will be a free agent in a few months.
The Nets still incriminated by the Lakers!
Should we blame Pelinka? While many people blamed the GM for its negotiations, others were keen to defend it. Marc Stein explained that the Nets did not want to send Kyrie to Los Angeles: a will emanating from the owner in person. A low blow in short, which could benefit the Mavericks.
Recently at a press conference, Pelinka quickly returned to the story with Irving. In one sentence, the GM summed up the situation while slipping a tackle to the Nets:
The last thing you want to do in the market is overpay a player or spend all your energy on a house that someone doesn’t want to sell.
Understand by this that the Nets never intended to give Kyrie, not to the Lakers in any case. The front office is accused of having asked for an unrealistic counterpart, simply in order to discourage the Angelinos. Suffice to say that the next negotiations between these two teams could well be tense.
For now, the Lakers have other issues to deal with with new recruits. Everyone will have to find their place, while LeBron James has not yet had the opportunity to play with them. Remember that the King is injured in the foot, and this is starting to create some internal tensions. It’s not good for the future.
For Rob Pelinka, there is no question of spending too many assets to recruit Kyrie Irving. Given the negotiations and the many rumors, we can say that the Angelinos never had a chance in this soap opera. But karma hasn’t been kind to Brooklyn.
