Lakers Rumors: Kyrie Irving Now Likely to Push for Sign-and-Trade Says Insider

Just before the NBA Draft, the man that started the Kyrie Irving firestorm with a report this past Monday, The Athletic's Shams Charania, provided another noteworthy nugget about the Nets guard.

Just before the NBA Draft began, Shams had the latest on what Kyrie Irving's future might hold.

“There’s an expectation that Kyrie Irving will now proceed shortly into finding a new home via an opt in, sign-and-trade potential situation. There are several teams that he would likely consider. Some of them I reported earlier this week, when you look at the Lakers, the Knicks, the Clippers, those are three suitors that are expected to emerge out of probably several teams that would have interest in acquiring Kyrie Irving via sign-and-trade." 

Based on that report, it appears that any chance of Kyrie inexplicably opting out of the final year of his current contract with Brooklyn ($36.5M) and taking the taxpayer mid-level exception ($6.4M) from the Lakers, are gone.

A sign-and-trade scenario is infinitely more complex for the Lakers since it would also lead to a hard cap situation for the team. Meaning, the Lakers have to field a legal roster without ever going over the hard cap limit as soon as a potential Kyrie deal is executed. 

Now, there is a chance that all of the noise surrounding Kyrie is leverage to attempt to get the Brooklyn front office to offer him a long term deal. On the other hand, this is Kyrie Irving, the NBA's ultimate wild card. 

So all bets are off.