The Los Angeles Lakers reportedly want to run it back next season with their current team.
That means the Lakers won’t make any big splashes in free agency, including Dallas Mavericks guard Kyrie Irving.
Irving, despite his talent, has become one of the more controversial figures in the league after sharing and defending an antisemitic film.
Jovan Buha of The Athletic appeared on the HoopsHype podcast to detail the franchise’s current thinking around Irving.
“From what I’ve been told by my sources around the organization, they wanted to run this situation [current roster] back,” Buha told the podcast. “It’s looked good so far. They’ve won a lot of games. They’ve done a lot of winning without LeBron James. That’s something that’s kind of been under-discussed. The non-LeBron minutes were always an issue for the Lakers going back to his first year in L.A.
“From what I’ve been told, they’re not going to be pursuing Kyrie Irving this offseason,” he continued. “Of course, that could change. To my knowledge and to what I’ve been told, the Kyrie ship, I think, has sailed. You never want to say never. That could easily change, but as of right now, their plan is to run this back.”
Irving and current Lakers star LeBron James won a championship together in 2016 as members of the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Lakers currently sit at 34-36 after losing to the Houston Rockets on Wednesday night.
