NBA Trade Rumors: Lakers played 3-dimensional chess with Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving

The Lakers missed out on trading for Kyrie Irving. But one NBA insider thinks they may have been playing an absolutely devious long game.

The Lakers wanted Kyrie Irving. LeBron James wanted Kyrie Irving. It sure seemed like Kyrie wanted to join the Lakers. But Nets owner Joe Tsai reportedly wanted to make sure he didn’t land in his preferred destination and dealt him to the Mavericks instead.

On the surface level, it seems like a blow for the Lakers. But just before the trade went through, Ben Golliver of The Washington Post laid out a galaxy-brain conspiracy theory about how the Lakers could benefit from Irving going to Dallas and why they should actually try to make it happen.

Here’s the set-up:

"“They need to treat Kyrie Irving like a Trojan horse. They need to do whatever they can possibly do to talk up his value, their interest in him, his ability to be a part of a Championship core. They need to pull out all the Klutch stops. To build up Kyrie Irving as this dramatic franchise-changing asset.They need to get the Dallas Mavericks to bite. If there’s another team as desperate as the Lakers, or close to as desperate, for a superstar-level addition, it is the Dallas Mavericks.”"

And here’s the pay-off:

"“So what I’m saying is, Trojan horse. There is no better way to blow up the Dallas Mavericks culture from the inside, than dropping Kyrie Irving on a team with Luka Doncic, and having that thing go completely crazy. If Kyrie can’t make it work in Brooklyn, how the hell is he going to live in Texas on a regular basis.The long term plan here is steal Luka from the Dallas Mavericks, make him the next face of the Los Angeles Lakers. And the best possible way the Lakers can do that right now is to coax Kyrie Irving into Dallas, have that thing blow up. You have to wait a couple years until it all plays out. That’s how you get No. 77 into the blue and gold. You don’t bring Kyrie yourself. You kick him into Dallas, and watch the whole thing ignite.”"

Is this conspiracy theory about the Lakers, Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic actually true?

Almost certainly not. Even if you give the Lakers’ front office the benefit of the doubt for their creativity and deviousness (which is a SERIOUS stretch) there are too many moving parts here to imagine them actually implementing this plan intentionally.

BUT, you can guarantee they’ll be happy to capitalize on it if this does fall in their lap. And given Kyrie Irving’s track record on his last few teams, the Mavericks being plunged into chaos and turmoil seems like a pretty safe bet.

Check out The Step Back for more news, analysis, opinion and unique basketball coverage. Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter Twitter and Instagram and subscribe to our daily email newsletter, The Whiteboard.