NBA is in full swing, and the viewership has been on the rise as the day’s move. A lot of offseason moves for several NBA teams, few have been team changers and few trades are haunting the squad. However, few teams are being haunted by the trades in the past as well. Such is the case of Kyrie Irving and Russell Westbrook.
Let us talk about the two cases on a separate note.
The case of Russell Westbrook
The former MVP, the Triple – Double master, Westbrook has had a tough route post the Kevin Durant saga back in the 2016-17 season. He won his 1st MVP in that season post the departure of Kevin Durant but has not been successful when it comes down to Playoffs. He has been one of the most inconsistent players wherever he went after the OKC tenure. Multiple turnovers, poor three-point shooting, etc. He has always been a ball-dominant around-the-ring field goal-maker kind of player who puts his all on the field.
However, his inclusion in the squad has been a questionable one since the start. LA Lakers lost out in the 1st round last season, not due to a poor Point Guard or a missing piece in the already stacked team. They were lagging shooting depth in the squad where they comparatively averaged 46% FG from inside the arc and a poor 35% beyond the arc. The answer to their troubles was never Russell Westbrook. Alongside Russell, they brought in Kent Bazemore, Wayne Ellington, Malik Monk, and Carmelo Anthony. The only right pick here has been Carmelo Anthony who has been balling on the court.
Westbrook has always been a misfit in a LeBron led team where the game and the ball control for the squad has always been with LeBron James which has never been the case for Westbrook at OKC, Houston, and Washington where he was allowed to be the primary ball-handler and the rest of the squad were surrounded by shooters around. This is not the case with the Lakers.
The case of Kyrie Irving
Post his Championship winning season with the Cleveland Cavaliers, Kyrie has been one of the most controversial figures in recent NBA history. Being open about racism, mental health issues, political issues, vaccination issues, and so on. Kyrie has done it all but played basketball in the past 2 seasons. He demanded a trade from Cleveland Cavaliers and was then traded to Boston Celtics where he spent two unsuccessful seasons and changed the franchise scenario where they are suffering to date.
Post Celtics, he joined alliances with Kevin Durant first and then James Harden where he spent the 1st season being injured and 2nd season playing as much as less than 30 games, getting injured in the Playoffs and the scenario continues.
Now a new factor comes in for Kyrie, the Vaccination saga, where he has refrained himself from getting vaccinated where the rest of the squad gets vaccinated and the NBA and the states in the USA have made it mandatory for the players to get vaccinated to play in the NBA. Kyries have made statements saying it violates his control over his body, the government is spreading agenda and what not. Due to all this drama, the Nets franchise has decided to ban him from the NBA games until he takes his vaccine shot to be eligible to play for the Brooklyn Nets again. He has also been withdrawn from the contract extension talks.
So let us come down to wild speculation – should Russell Westbrook be traded to the Brooklyn Nets for Kyrie Irving?
The Nets have been one piece away from winning it all. Harden has been an average player since the start of the season, and with Kyrie is not interested in getting vaccinated, should the trade happen? This shall reunite Kyrie with LeBron and Kyrie has been clutch since the start of his career. However, if the vaccine mandates are updated in the LA land, will the trade work?
This seems next to impossible, but the speculations shall not be put down.
