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LeBron James Fan NFL Legend Ready to Give Up Long Standing Position if Kevin Durant Wins a Ring With Russell Westbrook

Published 06/21/2022, 1:53 PM EDT

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A new trade rumor has hit the NBA world like a storm. The rumor entails that Kyrie Irving might end up leaving the Brooklyn Nets this offseason. What’s more interesting is that the Los Angeles Lakers are one of the destinations that might interest Kyrie. As of now, two other teams have also been in the discussion, but a reunion with LeBron James even hypothetically is enough to spark up the excitement. Moreover, this would affect two big stars of the NBA, Kevin Durant, and LeBron James.

The fans, media, and analysts are all monitoring the possibility of the said addition to the Lakers. NFL legend and LeBron James’ fan Shannon Sharpe had his say about the whole situation. He believed that it would be tough for the Lakers to orchestrate the reunion of the successful partnership of LeBron James and Kyrie Irving. Simply considering the salary cap.

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Skip Bayless addressed the situation by calling out the one guy who unfortunately has been under the cosh all season. The player who had his worst season ever, Russell Westbrook. And Skip blamed LeBron the GM for his arrival and then the failure. He even used the banter name “Westbrick” for him. Bayless said that nobody would be interested in paying about $48 million for Westbrook at this point in his career and after the season he had.

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Now an unlikely option for the Lakers and the Nets is a swap between Kyrie and Russ. But Shannon Sharpe is pretty sure that it would not be a good reunion for Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook. He said, I tell you what I would be willing to do. I’ll be willing to put Kevin Durant in my top ten if he would have won a title with Russ.”

The possibility of the Kyrie Irving – LeBron James reunion

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Now considering all parties involved, the Nets, and the Lakers are in different situations. Although both teams are looking to have a better next season, their requirements differ a little. For the Nets, the decision to offload Kyrie is basically to manage the salary cap. They would have to find someone to partner with KD. And that can not be KD’s former teammate, Westbrook, majorly because of the huge difference in salaries between Kyrie and Russ. Russ earns $47 million a year while Kyrie earns $36 million. So naturally, a swap between Russ and Kyrie would defeat the objective from the Nets’ standpoint.

USA Today via Reuters

On the other hand, the Lakers are already in possession of three big-money players. LeBron, Russ, and Anthony Davis. Considering LeBron stays, they would have to let go of either of the other two if they wish to bring Kyrie. But there might be a case where the Lakers go all out and make the 4 of the star players play together, which once again seems unlikely.

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WATCH THIS STORY: Top 5 Kyrie Irving performances.

How the two teams form up is still in question, as everything is still in the initial stages. We are in for some big changes for the next season. The Nets and Lakers fans would hope that the changes lead to some form of success.

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Written by:

Chaitanya Sharma

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Chaitanya is an NBA writer at EssentiallySports. He completed his engineering from SRM University. Having determined an interest in football and basketball, he was inclined towards having a job in the sports industry.
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Edited by:

Bagavathi Eswaran