re: The Official NBA Free Agency/Offseason Thread Update: MITCHELL TO CLE

Honestly, I don’t think anyone besides the Lakers even wants Kyrie and we know there are no teams that want Westbrook.

From the Nets point of view they can get Kyrie out of town, send Joe Harris’s bad multi year contract out, and probably get a pick or two to take on Westbrook’s expiring contract.

Exactly. Why is anyone remotely concerned about Kyrie?

The Lakers never learn and just make the same mistakes over and over.

All they’d be doing is trading one PG everyone hates playing with for another who is even more out of touch and with a bigger, longer contract.

There’s a reason no one outside the Lakers wants Kyrie. Same reason no one wanted Westbrook last year.

But Lebron knows best lol

The Lakers will get saddled with a max contract for a complete psychopath along with street clothes and a very soon to be washed up Lebron.

That team is trash with or without Kyrie.

Oh yeah a soft bitch and two ego maniacs with a rookie coach and a bottom 3 supporting cast.

What could go wrong?

Can he though? When is the last time he stayed engaged and didn’t torpedo his team?

When he played with Lebron. They won a championship as I recall. It last a minute then Kyrie had to blow it up.

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Kyrie went fricking nuts after they won a title and it didn’t magically fix everything wrong with him.

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Yeah this isn't the same Kyrie. Winning that title was kind of like Westbrook's MVP year after Durant left: it fricked them mentally.

Kyrie has a slight edge in on-court play (he hasn't played defense in years, which is Westbrook's biggest issue) but he misses a ton of games and is cancer in the locker room. Westbrook is on the downside of his career on the court but I don't think he stopped working hard off the court. He just thinks he's a better player than he is, b/c he's not what he used to be.

CAN it work with Kyrie? Sure.

Can it work with Westbrook? No.

The problem is with AD's injuries, Kyrie's bullshite, and LBJ's age, they may get 10 games together. Kind of like how Durant and Kyrie played 44 games together. Nash and Howard played more together with the Lakers, iirc.

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There's absolutely nothing on that team worth trading for.

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but they aren’t giving up anything either. 1 or 2 future unprotected picks to get off of Irving AND get off of Harris AND get 40MM+ of salary relief is plenty. If it was us we’d do it in a heartbeat

If the Lakers don’t take Harris, they better be giving up 2-3 picks and multiple swaps.

Seth Curry is an expiring who actually meets some of the Lakers’ needs but they aren’t kicking in near enough to be getting positive value out of this trade.

27 & 29
now...assuming that the lakers would have a better record with Irving than Westbrook, putting the 2023 swap in jeopardy, would you consider maybe trading that swap away (ie back to the lakers) for a 2024 swap? Making the 2025 pick ours regardless?

the lakers could then trade their 2023 to the nets

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Westbrook is just a 1-year contract to be bought out.

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I don't think he gets bought out. He is still a name and could keep the Nets competitive. He isn't going to take less money. So might as play him and see if he can reclaim some value. Then if he shows some flashes they might be able to get something at the trade deadline.

I said in another thread the Nets could be fun. With Irving and Durant gone the season focus should be getting under the tax for 2023 and rebuilding Simmons into a player. Low pressure situation where they can all be loose and play. I actually think Westbrook might be a low key great mentor for Simmons. He shows up, plays hard and is a professional. Simmons could learn a lot from him..