“Normal people keep the world going, but those who dare to be different lead us into tomorrow.”
This was the cryptic quote NBA superstar Kyrie Irving gave to Shams Charania over the summer after deciding to opt into his $37.5-million player option for this season with the Brooklyn Nets.
If only the rest of us were as daring as Kyrie.
It’s hard to tell what’s going on in the eight-time all-star’s head most of the time, thus making it hard to predict what his next move is.
The enigmatic guard’s immediate future appeared to have been thrown into chaos once again after a Friday afternoon WojBomb revealed that he has asked the Nets for a trade in advance of next Thursday’s NBA trade deadline.
Online sportsbooks have released odds on where Kyrie Irving will be playing after the trade deadline, with Irving staying in Brooklyn at -140 and the Los Angeles Lakers topping the list of new destinations at +300.
Check out the latest odds below along with our breakdown of where Kyrie might end up. And head over to our NBA Trade Deadline Sellers page to see who else could be on the move.
Kyrie Irving Next Team Odds
| Team | Odds |
|---|---|
| Brooklyn Nets | -140 |
| Los Angeles Lakers | +300 |
| Dallas Mavericks | +600 |
| Miami Heat | +900 |
| Los Angeles Clippers | +1200 |
| Minnesota Timberwolves | +1600 |
| Chicago Bulls | +1800 |
| Toronto Raptors | +2500 |
Odds as of February 3
Where Will Kyrie Play Next?
After being granted permission to look for sign-and-trade destinations throughout the league last summer, Kyrie decided to opt into his one-year deal with the Nets after reportedly finding the list of teams who could – or wanted to – acquire him to be a little less desirable than he may have thought.
The Los Angeles Lakers were reportedly interested in Kyrie, but more as a free-agent signing than as a trade target, thus leading Kyrie to be daring enough to do something dozens of NBA players do every year – opt in.
Fast-forward to February and extension talks have broken down and we are faced with this question again.
Where will Kyrie land?
If Kyrie is going to get shipped out of Brooklyn, the favorite is understandably the Lakers as there appears to be mutual interest from Kyrie and L.A. for him to play with LeBron James once again. But would that mean the Nets having to take on Russell Westbrook and his bloated contract? That doesn’t make much sense for Brooklyn, and Westbrook would be a terrible fit with Ben Simmons.
According to Woj, the Mavericks are keen to pair Kyrie with Luka Doncic. The question is what is Dallas willing to give up and are they interested in committing long term to someone with a reputation of burning bridges.
The bottom line here is we wouldn’t put it past Kyrie to simply sit out. We already saw him give up $11 million after refusing to get vaccinated. If that happens, we wouldn’t be surprised if the Lakers are his final destination.
