It doesn’t seem to be the likeliest outcome, but it is possible that Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving remain teammates outside of Brooklyn.
On ESPN’s free agency special, Brian Windhorst said that it’s “been floated” that other teams think it’s possible that the Los Angeles Lakers would “potentially have a package” to acquire both. He also added that’s there’s not enough information to really know if this deal has any legs. That seemingly ended Richard Jefferson, with Jefferson saying “I will retire from this show if KD, and Kyrie, and Bron are in L.A.” When asked what he’d do if he retired from TV, he said he’d become a referee.
Brian Windhorst says it’s been “floated” by executives that the Lakers “would potentially have a package” to trade for both Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving.
Richard Jefferson couldn’t handle it: “I will retire from this show if KD, and Kyrie, and Bron are in L.A.”
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— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) June 30, 2022
A Lakers trade for both Durant and Irving would have to be seismic. It would certainly have to involve Russell Westbrook, but maybe also involve Anthony Davis for salary purposes. And would the Nets even want Westbrook? Would a third team need to get involved? And, on top of that, how would the sides even decide who has to send picks one way or the other?
Jefferson’s reaction here is frankly the right one. This is so implausible that it’s a NBA 2K trade more than it is something grounded in reality. To pull it off would be so complicated and convoluted to pull off that it almost rules it out from happening. Even if it makes sense for the Lakers to maybe explore it and go all-in on a title chase while they still have LeBron James, pulling out a deal to get both is just crazy, crazy enough to maybe make Jefferson retire from his ESPN gig if it were to happen.