Amid the 2023 NBA Finals between the Miami Heat and the Denver Nuggets, a shocking report came out of nowhere earlier this week about Kyrie Irving trying to woo the Dallas Mavericks into considering the possibility of trading for LeBron James. The idea of a super trio in Dallas composed of Irving, LeBron, and Luka Doncic is staggering and hard to wrap one’s mind around. Even though LeBron is a dinosaur already at 38 years old, he’s still got some juice left in him. Running it back with Irving and playing alongside Doncic in Dallas would make the Mavs a favorite to have a championship parade downtown in 2024.

There is also some hope that Los Angeles will be the place where LeBron and Irving will reunite

Not so fast.

Setting aside the logistics of pulling off that kind of transaction that will bring Irving to Hollywood, the Lakers themselves appear to be not so fond of it after all.

Via The Athletic:

“The Lakers, meanwhile, maintained on Monday that they aren’t interested in adding Irving this summer, according to multiple team sources who aren’t authorized to speak publicly on the matter.”

Irving will have his current contract expire at the end of the 2022-23 NBA season. LeBron, on the other hand, can be a free agent by the end of the 2023-24 season if he opts not to pick up his $50.65 million option for the 2024-25 campaign.

The tandem of Irving and LeBron is a proven one. The two led the Cleveland Cavaliers to a miraculous NBA title run in 2016 when the Cavs bested the Golden State Warriors in the Finals. One would also think that Irving would be an upgrade at the point guard position for the Lakers after they got absolutely ghosted by D’Angelo Russell in the 2023 Western Conference Finals against the Nuggets.

With the Lakers reportedly internally saying no to Irving, that brings us back to Dallas, which, at the moment, seems to have a bigger chance of becoming the hosting site of the LeBron-Kyrie 2.0 experiment.