Before the Nets agreed to send Kyrie Irving to Dallas, the Clippers made an offer that included Luke Kennard, Terance Mann, a future first-round pick, and two first-round pick swaps, league sources tell Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer.
As O’Connor notes, at least one more outgoing salary would’ve been required for the Clippers to accommodate Irving’s incoming cap hit, but that was the “gist” of L.A.’s offer.
Since the Clippers already owe their 2024 and 2026 first-round picks to Oklahoma City and have given OKC swap rights in 2023 and 2025, we can safely assume that their offer for Irving would’ve included their 2028 first-rounder, with swap rights in 2027 and 2029 — the Stepien rule doesn’t allow teams to leave themselves without first-round picks in consecutive future years, while the “seven-year rule” doesn’t permit clubs to trade draft picks more than seven years out.
Ultimately, the offer wasn’t enough to entice Brooklyn to make a deal, so the Clippers will now have to adjust to the fact that Irving will be playing alongside Luka Doncic for one of their conference rivals.
“Don’t make me think about it right now, please,” Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said on Monday when asked about the Mavericks‘ new backcourt duo, via Andrew Greif of The Los Angeles Times. “We play them Wednesday. I don’t want to think about that already. It’s going to be a tough challenge. Kyrie’s a guy we’ve always blitzed in the past, Luka’s always a guy we’ve blitzed in the past, and now they got two of them, so like I said, it’s going to be a tough challenge for a lot of teams in the West.”
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