Los Angeles Lakers
It should come as no surprise if the Los Angeles Lakers emerge as a team interested in acquiring Kyrie Irving ahead of the NBA Trade Deadline. The Lakers are a team that has been interested in him before and considering they’re desperate to make a big move at the deadline, they should probably be interested once again.
However, the difficulty is that if the Lakers do want to make a trade for Kyrie, they would have to include Russell Westbrook, and it’s highly unlikely that the Nets would want to take on his contract, even if it is just for the remainder of the season.
The Lakers would probably have to find a third team to take on Westbrook and send the NEts something that they would want as compensation for the trade.
That said, that’s likely something that may end up being complicated, but could be accomplished. Kyrie to the Lakers, if he is moved at this year’s NBA Trade Deadline, seems like the most likely outcome here.