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Jan 13, 2024

Could Chris Paul or Kyrie Irving team up with LeBron James next season?

Yahoo Sports NBA writers Jake Fischer and Dan Devine hop on the “Ball Don’t Lie”

Yahoo Sports NBA writers Jake Fischer and Dan Devine hop on the "Ball Don't Lie" podcast to discuss the rumors that Kyrie Irving is trying to recruit LeBron James to Dallas, and that Chris Paul could sign with the Lakers in free agency, and debate which of these things is more likely to happen before next season.

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JAKE FISHER: Monday, before the Chris Paul news happened, we had reports from "The Athletic" and "Bleacher Report" about how Kyrie is actively recruiting LeBron to come to Dallas, even though there is very little chances of a trade between the Lakers and the Mavericks occurring, being that the Mavericks, like the Phoenix Suns, have next to zero assets to send out in exchange for arguably the greatest player of all time.

That's the prelude to saying these situations between Kyrie and Dallas and Chris Paul and Phoenix, they're just going to inevitably get kind of snowballed into each other, some type of like Venn diagram of rumors, where only one of these guys in theory could end up playing with LeBron.

I don't believe Kyrie has any chance of getting to LA unless he wants to take some major financial losses, like Chris Paul seems like he's might be just be forced and backed into a corner in doing so.

Like, I don't know what the likelihood of Phoenix wanting to go after Kyrie, the other end of this triangle. It's like, Kyrie, Chris Paul, LA, Phoenix, Dallas, LeBron, these things are all going to be talked about and looked at though, for sure, I can guarantee you.

So that triangle, that kind of Spider-Man meme that "The Office" meme where Phoenix, Dallas, LA, LA, LeBron, Kyrie, Chris Paul, this off season's going to be buzzing with that at the top, no matter what.

Then the trickle down will go from there. You know, Chris Paul could be a very feasible backup option for Houston if they don't get James Harden. Like, this, it's going to be kind of a incestual rumor mill with all the old partners kind of maybe flirting with dancing back down the aisle together.

DAN DEVINE: Well, I just double checked. You said there's really no mechanism for LeBron to get to Dallas, but I just put it in the trade machine, and him for Luka works. So like, that's one way. Maybe we just go straight up, you know, Luka for LeBron. Take that L on the way out the door, bring it with you to Dallas. It could all work out really swimmingly for both sides.

So as we look forward to TransactionPalooza and the acquisitive frenzy of free agency, let's remember that it's all in the service of trying to win this thing that's happening here that I'm traipsing around the country trying to keep an eye on, and that anybody who's building a team in the West, needs to be thinking about how they do it to deal with what I just watched. Because what I just watched is a dangerous, dangerous thing.