Lakers Rumors: Imagining a backcourt with Lonzo Ball and Kyrie Irving

Kyrie Irving recently made some comments that have flipped the NBA on its head. Some Lakers rumors have resulted due to this shift.

Kyrie Irving is one of the most popular players in all of the NBA. Better known as Uncle Drew, Irving can go magic with the basketball and has put a good amount of NBA players on skates. However, Irving sent shock waves throughout the NBA with his latest comments. Shock waves that have translated into new Lakers rumors.

The Cleveland Cavaliers point guard reportedly told his team that he wants to be traded and does not want to play with LeBron James any longer. Irving likely is done being overshadowed by LeBron and wants to join a contender where he has a bigger role.

Jeff Wechsler, Kyrie Irving’s agent, neither confirmed nor denied these reports. This all sounds crazy, because well, it is. James is typically regarded as a player that other guys want to play alongside. It is understandable why Irving would want to be a bigger star and have a bigger role, but his best bet at a ring lies in Cleveland.

This had led to many speculate where Irving could land next. Places such as San Antonio, Minnesota, Miami and New York have been suggested. One place that is not on the radar is in Los Angeles. And no, we are not talking about the Los Angeles Clippers.

The Lakers certainly, have the young talent to bring Irving to LA. What the Lakers would have to give and whether or not it would be worth it is all personal opinion, however, it is a fact that they have the pieces to get this done.

One piece we can likely rule out is Lonzo Ball. Ball was just drafted by the Lakers and seems to be the plan for the future. An issue arises, however, if the Lakers keep Ball then the point guard position would be occupied.

That is when Kyrie Irving would make the transition to the two guard. Quite frankly, it does not matter who takes the ball up the court, with Ball and Irving being interchangeable. Neither would really have a “set” position, but since Ball is the better distributor, we will say Irving would be the shooting guard.

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To see how this would work out we took to the popular NBA 2K franchise and simulated a season. To get the trade done we moved Jordan Clarkson and Brandon Ingram to the Cavaliers along with the Lakers 2019 first round pick. You may disagree with this package, but we wanted to stay as realistic as possible.

The results were pretty good for the Los Angeles Lakers. We moved Kyle Kuzma over to the starting small forward, giving us a starting five of Ball, Irving, Kuzma, Julius Randle and Brook Lopez.

The team went 48-34, good enough to tie with the Spurs for the fifth seed in the Western Conference. The Warriors, Timberwolves, Rockets and Thunder all placed ahead of the Lakers. Perhaps this is a sign that these Lakers rumors should come to fruition.

As for Ball and Irving, they tore it up together. With being the number one scoring option Irving saw his points per game rise to 26.9 while his assists per game fell to 5.1. Ball played the facilitator, racking up 11.1 points, 9.6 assists and 7.7 rebounds per game.

Next: Newest Lakers' trade targets

Although chances are that Irving will land elsewhere, the results here are very promising. These Lakers rumors may be very far-fetched, but it would give them one of the best backcourts in the league.