NBA Free Agency 2019: Latest Rumors on Kyrie Irving, Trey Lyles, More
Before Kyrie Irving signed with the Brooklyn Nets, he was reportedly recruited by Kawhi Leonard, who tried to get a second star to team up with him.
Leonard eventually landed a partnership with Paul George at the Los Angeles Clippers, while Irving will combine with Kevin Durant once the former Golden State star returns from an Achilles injury that will keep him out for most of the 2019-20 season.
Leonard and Irving helped transform the NBA landscape in a week's time, and now you could make a legitimate case for as many as seven or eight teams to win the title next season.
While most of the free-agency buzz has surrounded the signings that were finalized last week, there are still a few lower-tier players looking for new homes as teams finish off the final pieces of the roster-building process.
Latest NBA Rumors
Kyrie Irving
According to ESPN.com's Zach Lowe, Leonard reportedly contacted Irving in addition to George and Durant in an effort to recruit the now-Brooklyn guard to join him.
Irving was one of the first players to sign when free agency began June 30, and he was quickly followed to Brooklyn by Durant to make the Nets one of the power brokers in the Eastern Conference.
Leonard is one player Irving does not have to worry about competing with for a spot in the NBA Finals since the two-time NBA Finals MVP joined the Clippers with George, who was acquired for a haul of draft picks, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Danilo Gallinari in a trade with Oklahoma City.
Leonard, George and the Clippers will be one of the teams favored to come out of the Western Conference, and a meeting with Irving and the Nets in the NBA Finals could be possible this season but would be more likely to occur in two years once Durant is at full strength.
The link between Leonard and Irving is interesting because once he opted out of his contract with the Boston Celtics, Irving appeared to be on a fast track for Brooklyn, while Leonard was down to the Clippers, Los Angeles Lakers and Toronto Raptors for his free-agent decision.
In the hypothetical situation in which Leonard and Irving would have teamed up, they would have had to go to either the Clippers or Raptors since the Lakers would not have had room for them with Anthony Davis and LeBron James on the books.
Signing Irving might have been difficult for the Clippers, but in that hypothetical, they would have been able to make room for him on the guard depth chart. After all, they were willing to part ways with Gilgeous-Alexander in the George trade.
If the two joined forces in Toronto, Nick Nurse would have had to find a way to get Irving to play alongside Kyle Lowry in the backcourt while finding playing time for Fred VanVleet.
Of course, neither of those situations came to fruition because Irving quickly signed with Brooklyn, and Leonard eventually got a star to play alongside him in George.
Both moves probably make the most sense for the parties involved, as both players have a chance to chase a title close to where they grew up and have the opportunity to do so alongside another star who complements their respective skill sets.
Trey Lyles
According to The Athletic and Stadium's Shams Charania, the Denver Nuggets are rescinding the qualifying offer on Trey Lyles, which will make him an unrestricted free agent.
The move makes sense for both sides since the Nuggets have a plethora of forward depth following their trade with Oklahoma City for Jerami Grant.
The power forward out of Kentucky, who has played for Utah and Denver in four seasons, experienced a dip in production from 9.9 to 8.5 points per game and 4.8 to 3.8 rebounds per game in his second year with the Nuggets.
Lyles' decrease in production came with playing nine fewer games than the 2017-18 season, and the 64 contests he participated in were his lowest total since entering the NBA.
Lyles made $3.36 million during the 2018-19 season, per Spotrac, and the qualifying offer Denver extended in June was worth close to $4.5 million.
Based off his production and age, Lyles should be able to get a deal in the similar figure range as long as a team is willing to pay it.
Since most of the cap space across the league has been taken up, Lyles might not have too many options, but regardless of where he lands, he needs to prove he can bounce back from a down season.
One of the main things Lyles has to work on is his three-point shooting, as he dropped from 38.1 percent beyond the arc in 2017-18 to 25.5 percent last season.
Atlanta might have been an intriguing spot for Lyles to land, but the Hawks took care of their forward depth by signing Jabari Parker on Monday.
One team that might be able to use Lyles is Indiana, which needs some depth at power forward and has signed T.J. McConnell and Edmond Sumner to cheaper deals already this offseason to fill out its roster.
Because Lyles was a solid three-point shooter in his first three seasons, he might fit in with Golden State as well, but that would require the willingness of Steve Kerr and his staff to work on Lyles' shot.
According to K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune, the Chicago Bulls have had discussions with the Memphis Grizzlies about a potential sign-and-trade for Justin Holiday.
The Bulls already made one alteration to their guard depth by selecting Coby White with the No. 7 overall pick in the 2019 NBA draft, but they still have more work to do at the position, especially since they are trying to get rid of Kris Dunn, who Johnson reported is available for the right price.
If a sign-and-trade between Memphis and Chicago were to take place, it would be the latest in a sequence of events that have brought Holiday back to the Bulls.
Holiday was traded by the Bulls to the New York Knicks in 2016 along with Derrick Rose, and the Bulls shipped him to Memphis in January.
Chicago is not the only team going after Holiday's services, as The Athletic's Michael Scotto reported Thursday that several franchises were interested in the 30-year-old.
Some of the teams mentioned in that report, like the Lakers and Clippers, have shored up their guard depth in the last few days.
Although it may be tough for Holiday to go back to Chicago for a third time, it might be the best fit for him at the moment since he should receive a decent amount of minutes while mentoring White.
Follow Joe on Twitter, @JTansey90.
Statistics obtained from Basketball Reference.
