The Los Angeles Lakers are not willing to activate their plan B until they know the outcome of their effort to land Kyrie Irving.
This is what Marc Stein of Substack reports, adding that the 17-time NBA champions are determined to agree to a deal with the Brooklyn Nets.
“I tend to agree with the notion that the Lakers, above all, would also prefer to hold off on secondary trades, like the various Indiana options or a potential Eric Gordon deal with Houston until they know that acquiring Kyrie Irving from Brooklyn is no longer an option,” Stein wrote on Substack.
3 PM ET today: An hour of live NBA chat via @SpotifyLive with @celticsblog’s own @KeithSmithNBA guesting. Boston’s trade offer for Kevin Durant starring Jaylen Brown will presumably come up.
In the interim … here’s a Reader Mailbag with more trade talk: https://t.co/iBKsTQjY1o
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) July 25, 2022
Lakers’ plan B includes a deal with the Indiana Pacers for Buddy Hield and Myles Turner or an agreement with the Houston Rockets for Eric Gordon.
Los Angeles aims to return to the postseason next year and wants to make more than one offseason deals in order to bolster its roster.
However, the Kyrie Irving saga has cost them significant time so far, so they may need to move faster and alter their plans sooner rather than later.