Lakers 'Mom and Pop' Approach Holding Up Russell Westbrook-Kyrie Irving Trade

Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated explained why the Lakers lack of financial capital is getting in the way of making the Russell Westbrook-Kyrie Irving trade.

The Lakers, despite being a global brand, are not owned by a billionaire like Steve Balmer or Joe Lacob. They're owned by the Buss family who's main source of income is the team itself, and doesn't even own the arena the team plays in, which is atypical in this day and age of professional sports. Their relative lack of financial resources could be the main hurdle in a potential Russell Westbrook-Kyrie Irving trade.

Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated explained why the Lakers lack of cash is a problem in getting a Kyrie Irving deal done in a recent appearance on the Ryen Russillo podcast on The Ringer. 

"The Lakers are not getting Kyrie, this what was kind of conveyed to me, unless they're willing to take back more money then they're sending out and attach a first-round draft pick. So that probably means, I'm sure they'd love Seth Curry, but that probably means Joe Harris who has the bigger contract. Look, you might say well, it's LA, why wouldn't they do that? You and I both know the Lakers are a mom-and-pop organization masquerading as a multi-billion dollar franchise. They count their pennies in Los Angeles, if they didn't, Alex Caruso would still be a Laker."

Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports reported last weekend that the Nets do indeed want to include Joe Harris in a potential Kyrie trade, in addition to draft pick compensation.

Mannix affirmed how the Nets current parameters of a potential Kyrie deal, which would push the Lakers even deeper into the luxury tax, are a roadblack for LA.

"It's just that simple with LA. There's not a huge appetite in LA at this point to take on all the money they're going to have to take on to be a deeper-into-the-luxury-tax team and fork over a first-round pick in return. As long as that is the asking price, the Lakers are not going to get their hands on Kyrie Irving."

Things change quickly in the NBA, but it appears there's plenty of work to done between the Nets and the Lakers to get Kyrie in purple and gold.