On Monday, Shams Charania reported news that sent the basketball world into a figurative tailspin. As one of the Association’s most trusted news breakers, Charania stated that sources have told him that free agent guard Kyrie Irving has communicated with LeBron James to see if he would be willing to request a trade to the Dallas Mavericks. Irving’s idea would be to form a ‘Big Three’ featuring him, James and guard Luka Doncic. Irving and James were previously teammates on the Cleveland Cavaliers from 2014 and 2017, and Irving was spotted at Lakers playoff games over the last month.
Charania was not the only insider to report this circumstance, as it was also written about by Chris Haynes. Haynes stated that sources told Bleacher Report about Irving’s desires, but also expressed how James stated to the outlet that he is considering retiring from basketball entirely.
“Kyrie would do this,” ESPN LA 710 co-host Scott Kaplan said, “but my question really is did he do this?”
“Yeah, I believe it 100%,” replied co-host Jorge Sedano. “I don’t think that Shams and Haynes are making this up independently of each other. They don’t even work together.”
Charania and Haynes have both been in the news-breaking business for several years, and they are viewed by many basketball fans as credible sources of information. Sedano is certain that the reporters received information from people whom they consider to be legitimate sources, perhaps even Irving himself, but he continues to have some doubt about the validity of just what they were told.
“I haven’t heard from LeBron yet,” Sedano stated, “so while I believe that they got it from somebody credible, hence why they reported it, without having heard LeBron’s side of it, I’m not going to say it’s a definitive.”
NBA free agency begins on June 30. While the NBA Finals had stronger Game 1 ratings than expected by industry pundits, the chatter about Irving and James has a stronger audience appeal and has subsequently taken over the airwaves outside of Denver and Miami.
For front offices of teams that did not qualify for the Finals, offseason plans on how to build for the future are squarely in view, with everyone trying to perspicaciously foresee the sequence of events. Not every manager considers external perspectives, but Sedano and Kaplan have discovered that Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka is a regular listener of their radio program.
In an interview with the Mason & Ireland show, Pelinka said that Kaplan has good ideas and that the team is flexible to consider them. Kaplan, who was informed that Pelinka often listens to the first 45 minutes of the show, has been outspoken in expressing his disdain towards the idea of the Lakers signing Irving.
“He also understands the trendsetters that we have become,” Kaplan said of Pelinka, “and therefore that we not just have our finger on the pulse, but rather actually influence the pulse.”
Kaplan divulged that there is a fan of the show who listens to the program after the fact as a podcast and comments thereafter. He has expressed that Kaplan is “a jerk for not wanting Kyrie,” and apparently has a preference for Sedano and the others on the show. He then asked Sedano if he had seen the tweet the user sent out with a picture of a dartboard where Kaplan’s face was the bullseye. Sedano revealed he had not seen the tweet, leading Kaplan to disclose it was something he made up.
“Shams Charania had somebody tell him that Kyrie had the balls to call LeBron,” Kaplan said. “Give me a break. Give me a freakin’ break, man.”
