Lakers: LeBron James 'Badly Wants' Russell Westbrook Swapped for Kyrie Irving

Marc Stein reinforced the notion that LeBron James has little to no desire to spend another season with Russell Westbrook.

The Lakers have a few worst-kept-secrets at the moment. For one, they're actively shopping Russell Westbrook, and secondly, aren't willing to give up their 2027 and 2029 first-round picks to get a deal done (at the moment). In spite of the reports that the team is planning on starting the season with Westbrook and that head coach Darvin Ham has a "full-hearted plan" to get the most out of Russ. However, everyone in the NBA knows that LeBron James has zero interest in playing with Westbrook. Evidenced by both players publicly ignoring each other at a summer league a few weeks ago. 

Back in early July, the Nets will exploring trade options for Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving after KD requested a trade on July 1st. That news brought a wave of Lakers-Kyrie speculation, and a report by Marc Stein that LeBron was pushing for LA to make a deal to land Kyrie.

In article published this past weekend, Stein again highlighted James' desire to get Westbrook out of town for his old pal Kyrie.

"As it stands, barring a trade to ship out Westbrook suddenly coalescing after weeks of fruitless talks, Ham is going to have to coach Westbrook, which is bound to be challenging in the extreme given that Westbrook is well aware that the Lakers have been trying hard to move him. And that James badly wants Irving to take his place."

If Westbrook stays on the roster, which seems like the more likely scenario at this juncture, Lakers training camp could quickly turn into a full on soap opera that is sure to be well publicized.