With the NBA season now complete, the free agency landscape of the league is dominating the news. Among the chief players this summer who can shape the outlook of the NBA is Kyrie Irving who, despite publicly saying he wanted to re-sign earlier this year, seems to be on the way out of Boston.
In recent days, most reports seem to indicate that Irving is on his way to the Brooklyn Nets, with the latest piece of evidence being his reported hiring of ROC Nation, an organization with ties to the team, as his new agency.
Despite the signs, however, SNY’s Ian Begley reports that Irving’s signing with the Nets is not a matter of formalities and that two teams, in particular, still have a shot at signing the star point guard.
As of late this week, teams interested in pursuing Kyrie Irving remained under the impression that the Nets were the odds-on favorite to land the point guard, per sources. But no team interested in Irving, including the Knicks and Lakers, had been led to believe that they are out of the running to sign him, those sources say.
Of course, this makes sense. Teams have not been able to meet and speak with Irving (at least officially) and he would likely want to take a look at his options.
The Lakers do seem to have an interest in teaming Irving back up with his former teammate LeBron James, but whether that feeling is mutual is another issue entirely. It’s at least been reported that Kyrie will grant the team a meeting.
Begley also reports that the Nets are hoping to pair Irving up with another star free agent, namely Kevin Durant, and that that could pave the way for former Laker D’Angelo Russell to part ways with Brooklyn.
