Lakers Rumors: League Insiders Think Kyrie Irving-to-LA is a Real Possibility

The Kyrie Irving chatter has enveloped the NBA universe. The NBA Draft offered a brief respite by the Kyrie drama, but by Friday morning, it was once again the lead story. The Athletic's Shams Charania reported on Thursday that there's now an "expectation" that Irving will push for a sign-and-trade. Lakers fans took notice.

Although there's plenty of maneuvering the Lakers would have to do if they were interested in pursuing Kyrie, including probably having to design a three-team trade, The Athletic's Sam Amick noted that league insiders aren't ruling out Kyrie winding up on the Lakers.

"The Lakers noise again, really tough to pull off, but it's somewhat substantive there. You've got people in the league actually thinking, man I think he might actually find a way to get back with LeBron. I do get the sense that LeBron would open that door and we'll see if they can pull it off."

Now, one avenue to get to the Lakers, that would involve Kyrie flushing over $30M down the drain, is Irving declining his player option with Brooklyn. He would then become a free agent and the Lakers could sign him to their mid-level exception ($6.4M). 

That scenario isn't likely to happen. 

It's downright unheard of for a player to take a massive discount in the prime of their career, but as Marc Stein and Woj have noted, Kyrie has been known to march to the beat of his own drum.

Kyrie has until June 29th to decide whether or not to opt into the final year of his current deal with Brooklyn.