Why Kyrie Irving’s interest in Lakers is laughable

The NBA offseason rumor mill us starting to churn out some interesting nuggets. The latest about Boston Celtic free agent-to-be Kyrie Irving is a real knee slapper.

The Boston Celtics are undergoing what could be a franchise-altering offseason. It’s unknown at this point what the team’s direction is moving forward. Will they go star-chasing? Will they give the keys to the franchise to their young core?

Really it all depends on what Kyrie Irving decides to do. Though he was unimpressive during the 2019 playoffs in a gentleman’s sweep at the hands of the Milwaukee Bucks, he is also the key to the team reeling in its biggest target.

More from Hardwood Houdini

• Boston Celtics’ two-way contract decision will be made after training camp
• Proposed trade sends Boston Celtics playoff killer to the Cs from rival
• ‘Face of Germany’s stunning run’ in FIBA World Cup not the only ex-Boston Celtics player to win gold
• Proposed Boston Celtics trade target pitched for reunion with fired coach
• Battle For Banner 18: Will Boston Celtics battle historical foe in 2024 Finals?

The line of thinking is that Anthony Davis will only consider the Celtics if he can be paired with Irving to be the next great point guard-big man pairing a la Stockton-Malone and Nash-Stoudemire. If there’s no Irving, Davis reportedly wouldn’t consider signing long-term.

Having Davis along for the ride still puts the team in Irving’s hands. In fact, it puts even more responsibility on the former NBA Champion offensively, as he would be responsible for keeping the unibrowed superstar happy with his touches and offensive exposure in Beantown.

But Irving continues to prove time and time again that he doesn’t want (and probably can’t handle) the burden of carrying an all-time great franchise to more greatness. Instead, as Kendrick Perkins pointed out, he doesn’t want to be Batman.

It seems as though Irving is mulling a return to the side of the former top player on the planet, LeBron James. If that’s true, here’s my advice Celtics fans: let out your biggest belly laugh.

Irving is all but admitting he made a mistake in demanding a trade out of Cleveland. Joining back up with LeBron (on a worse team than Cleveland) reeks of desperation.

Aside from the questionable fit alongside ball-handlers in Brandon Ingram, Lonzo Ball and James himself, Irving’s already questionable public image would continue to disintegrate. The world will see him as a fraud who couldn’t get it done on his own after whining to get the chance to.

And to add insult to injury, he’d be joining the Celtics’ greatest rival. Luckily, his departure would actually make the Celtics better, even if it cost them a shot at Davis.

While Davis and Irving is a fine idea on paper, the Celtics sans Irving is a proven commodity. There’s the 2018 playoffs, where the “little engine that could” Celtics almost ended James’ Eastern Conference Title streak, but there’s also the team’s 8-2 record this year without him. The narrative of Irving giving them an isolation scorer in the playoffs proved to be false. His inefficiency was part of their downfall.

So let’s just laugh at the rumor Irving wants to join James and co. in Los Angeles. He’s likely a goner anyway.