3 best trade packages Brooklyn Nets can get for Kyrie Irving

1. Russell Westbrook and a pick from the Lakers

The Lakers are the team with the most incentive to trade for Irving. They’ve expressed interest in him in the past, they have the most pressure to gamble their long-term future for short-term rewards. They have LeBron James to help sell and motivate Irving on making the necessary sacrifices for the team and they have an enormous need for backcourt shooting.

The Lakers would need to get at least one more player back to make the salaries match between Westbrook and Irving so they might be able to get someone else useful from Brooklyn — Edmund Sumner, maybe. Subbing Irving for Westbrook is a huge upgrade and re-signing Irving would hopefully help sell LeBron on staying in L.A., even if they can’t get back in the title hunt this season.

For the Nets, they get to re-unite Durant and Westbrook. It could be an absolute disaster (this seems like the more likely scenario) but maybe there’s something that clicks as both players figure out how to share the weight of the massive chips on their shoulders with the ends of their careers approaching. At the very least, an unprotected Lakers pick from 2027 or 2029 is likely to be the best asset they can get back in any Irving deal.

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