Los Angeles Lakers Insider Says Dallas Mavs’ Kyrie Irving Trade Rumor Will ‘Pop Up Again’ … But With 1 Catch

Dallas Mavericks star Kyrie Irving continues to be linked to the Los Angeles Lakers, but there’s no legitimate reason he should be … for now, at least.

Dalton Trigg | Nov 17, 2023

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The Dallas Mavericks are off to a great start to the season at 9-3, and if you throw out the one game rookie center Dereck Lively II missed due to an illness, and the two games the Mavs have played on In-Season Tournament courts … well, they’d be 9-0.

Sure, Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving and company haven’t had a world-beater schedule to start the year, but they can only play the games that are in front of them. The success the Mavs are experiencing was much needed after last season’s collapse that resulted in missing the postseason.

Despite Dallas’ early success, some Los Angeles Lakers media members are still trying to get a head start on firing up the Irving-to-L.A. trade rumors again. The Athletic’s Jovan Buha is the latest person to bring it up on a podcast appearance … but he did have one catch.

“In terms of guys [the Lakers are] looking at, I think the Kyrie rumor is going to pop up again come trade deadline,” Buha said on Hoops Tonight. “That probably looks like D-Lo, Rui and a pick for Kyrie. I don’t see why Dallas does that right now unless they start struggling,”

Even if the Mavs do start struggling, though, why would anyone think trading a star point guard like for D’Angelo Russell and Rui Hachimura would move the needle for Dallas? Why would the Mavs want to struggle even more by making that trade? They wouldn’t, and this is just the latest example of Lakers media trying to breathe life into the final years of LeBron James’ career.

Despite James putting up stellar numbers at age 38, his Lakers are just 6-6 after making a Western Conference Finals appearance last season.

If James wants to dream of turning his decent team into a good team, he can hold out hope that Irving eventually makes his way to the Lakers. If he wants to turn a good team into a great team, though, while giving himself a legitimate chance to win another title before he retires, he should consider leaving L.A. to join forces with Doncic and Irving in Dallas. … We’re just saying.

Dallas Mavs’ Kyrie Irving Hints at Free Agency Recruiting; Los Angeles Lakers’ LeBron James?

Published Nov 17, 2023

DALTON TRIGG

Dalton Trigg is the Editor-In-Chief for Dallas Basketball, as well as the Executive Editor overseeing Inside The Rockets, Inside The Spurs, All Knicks, and The Magic Insider. He is the founder and host for the Mavs Step Back Podcast, which is a proud part of the Blue Wire podcast network. Trigg graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi’s College of Business and Economic Development with a bachelor’s degree in entrepreneurship in 2016. After spending a few years with multiple Dallas Mavericks-related blogs, including SB Nation’s Mavs Moneyball, Trigg joined DallasBasketball.com as a staff writer in 2018 and never looked back. At the start of 2022, he was promoted to the EIC title he holds now. Through the years, Trigg has conducted a handful of high-profile one-on-one interviews to add to his resume — in both writing and podcasting. Some of his biggest interviews have been with Mavs owner Mark Cuban, Mavs GM Nico Harrison, now-retired legend Dirk Nowitzki and many other current/former players and team staffers. Many of those interviews and other articles by Trigg have been aggregated by other well-known sports media websites, such as Yahoo Sports, CBS Sports, Bleacher Report and others. You can find Trigg on all major social media channels, but his most prevalent platform is on Twitter. Whether it’s posting links to his DBcom work, live-tweeting Mavs games or merely giving his opinions on things going on with Dallas and the rest of the NBA, the daily content never stops rolling. For any inquiries, please email Dalton@MavsStepBack.com.