{"id":48247,"date":"2022-08-11T08:00:37","date_gmt":"2022-08-11T12:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=48247"},"modified":"2022-08-10T19:03:15","modified_gmt":"2022-08-10T23:03:15","slug":"how-kd-and-kyrie-could-reignite-the-nbas-biggest-rivalry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2022\/08\/11\/how-kd-and-kyrie-could-reignite-the-nbas-biggest-rivalry\/","title":{"rendered":"How KD and Kyrie Could Reignite the NBA\u2019s Biggest Rivalry"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is no secret that Lakers vs Celtics is the NBA&#8217;s biggest rivalry, judging by their many championship battles from the 60&#8217;s to 2010.\u00a0 The last time these two met in the Finals, the series averaged 18.1 million viewers, which, at the time, was <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportsmediawatch.com\/2010\/06\/2010-nba-finals-most-viewed-since-2001\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">the highest-viewed Finals since Bulls vs Jazz in 1998<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The rivalry has mostly been dormant since then. However, that could change soon.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Rumors After the Request<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/i\/irvinky01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><b>Kyrie Irving<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> has been eyeing a reunion with LeBron James on the Lakers.\u00a0 <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/d\/duranke01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><b>Kevin Durant<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, who requested a trade in late June, could reportedly land with the Boston Celtics, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sny.tv\/articles\/sources-kevin-durant-celtics-landing-spot-marcus-smart-trade\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">who are now \u201ca desired destination.\u201d<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0 All of this sets up another chapter between two of the greatest franchises in NBA history.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Shams Charania recently reported that tensions between Durant and Nets owner Joe Tsai have grown worse.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">In a meeting with Nets owner Joe Tsai, Kevin Durant reiterated his trade request and informed Tsai that Tsai needs to choose between Durant or the pairing of general manager Sean Marks and coach Steve Nash, sources say.<\/p>\n<p>Story: <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/W1voNf9MDC\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/W1voNf9MDC<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ShamsCharania\/status\/1556709715266134016?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">August 8, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Likewise, Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports wrote <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/sports.yahoo.com\/inside-lebron-james-meeting-with-lakers-front-office-darvin-ham-offensive-plan-rob-pelinka-roster-patience-014115495.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">an exclusive piece<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> about <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/j\/jamesle01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><b>LeBron James<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2019s meeting with head coach Darvin Ham and the rest of the Lakers\u2019 brass.\u00a0 It included a commitment from Rob Pelinka to make LA competitive for the rest of James&#8217;s tenure with the team. He hopes that the all-time great retires as a Laker.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Could This Work?<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The paths to Durant and Irving winding up on their preferred teams seems straightforward.\u00a0 As <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2022\/07\/26\/kevin-durant-jaylen-brown-trade-works\/\" target=\"_self\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Dylan Guest noted in his article<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, trading Jaylen Brown for the two-time champion and 12-time All-Star is ideal for both sides.\u00a0 Likewise, a Russell Westbrook for Kyrie Irving trade is picture-perfect for the Lakers and the Nets.\u00a0 However, everything in the NBA is complicated.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Although a Brown-Durant swap could work in theory, we are left to wonder if the Celtics would do the deal after coming two wins short of their 18th championship.\u00a0 Additionally, the talks between the Lakers and Nets have grown more complex by the week.\u00a0 The Athletic\u2019s Jovan Buha speculated that the Lakers could now be willing to include another first-round pick.\u00a0 Plus, there is a chance a third team could absorb Westbrook&#8217;s salary.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If everything goes according to plan, the league and its fans are in for a show. \u00a0LeBron, Anthony Davis, and Kyrie taking on Jayson Tatum, Kevin Durant, and Marcus Smart.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">How incredible would this storyline be?\u00a0 Two disgruntled superstars go their separate ways after their title aspirations together fall through.\u00a0 Their trade requests are eventually granted, and they wind up playing for prominent franchises who just happen to be the NBA&#8217;s biggest rivalry.\u00a0 It\u2019s something that not even Spielberg could write.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For now, though, it is a dream in the heads of Lakers and Celtics fans across the world.\u00a0 With the way things are trending, however, it just might turn into reality.\u00a0 The anticipation and ratings would skyrocket, and the world would watch closely as Durant and Irving try to outduel each other in a series that means a little more.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><br style=\"font-weight: 400;\" \/><br style=\"font-weight: 400;\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It is no secret that Lakers vs Celtics is the NBA&#8217;s biggest rivalry, judging by their many championship battles from the 60&#8217;s to 2010.\u00a0 The last time these two met in the Finals, the series averaged 18.1 million viewers, which, at the time, was the highest-viewed Finals since Bulls vs Jazz in 1998. The rivalry [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4265,"featured_media":48252,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[69,406,4774],"class_list":["post-48247","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-kevin-durant","tag-kyrie-irving","tag-rumors"],"modified_by":"Wesly Beausoleil, Lead Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48247","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4265"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48247"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48247\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48252"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}