So did the Sixers actually make a move for Irving trade? originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
Kyrie Irving opted in to a lucrative player option with the Nets on Tuesday after days of speculation about his future in Brooklyn, which sparked emergency meetings around the league about what they would be willing to move in order to land the All-Star guard.
The last we heard, from ESPN insider extraordinaire Adrian Wojnarowski, the Sixers weren’t interested in the enigmatic hooper despite Irving reportedly including the Sixers on his list of favorable sign-and-trade destinations:
“With [Kyrie] I don’t think you say, ‘That won’t happen, that’ll never happen.’ But I think that list in terms of Dallas, Philadelphia, the Clippers – I don’t think there’s interest there.”
It made sense at the time, but now The Athletic’s Shams Charania – another insider extraordinaire, albeit someone who gets his information from slightly different places than Woj – has a different view on how things went down these past 48 hours.
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Here’s what Charania initially had to say on The Pat MacAfee Show:
“Kyrie Irving had three different opt-in-and-trade opportunities that he could’ve pursued.”
Are those three opportunities with one team? Are those opportunities with three different teams?
Charania went on to say one of those was the Lakers, though the Lakers preferred an opt-out for Irving and having the 30-year-old subsequently sign a mid-level exception.
He then offered this nugget:
“There were a couple other teams that were poking around him on opt-in-and-trade: Dallas, Miami, Philadelphia. But at the end of the day, he made a move where he said, ‘I’m going to commit. I’m gonna go back to Brooklyn.”
Oh, is that right?
It’s here that we must note: Charania seems particularly close to the Nets, and Irving in specific. He’s been out in front of the Irving stories, all of which seemed to benefit Irving’s stance in negotiations with Brooklyn’s front office.
Story continues
If Irving wants to make sure it doesn’t look like he was the loser in this stand-off (which he was), the idea of multiple teams poking around a deal is certainly a piece of news he’d like to surface after an opt-in which benefits Brooklyn the most.
That said, I wouldn’t be surprised if Sixers President of Basketball Operations Daryl Morey put a call in to Sean Marks asking about Irving’s situation, if only to take the temperature. That’s not the same as Morey putting together a winning trade package centered around valuable assets; it’s just Morey doing his job.
But that’s “poking around”, which is how you wind up with this new report.
If the Sixers had made an offer, what would it have looked like? Maybe something like…
PHI receives: K. Irving
BKN receives: T. Harris, M. Thybulle, 2026 1st Round Pick
The money works, but that’s just an idea. It could’ve been a three-teamer. It could’ve been something else. We’ll never know!
Ultimately, it seems Irving will be in Brooklyn this season along with Kevin Durant and Ben Simmons. They’ll be an absolutely fascinating team to watch – if all three play, which is never a given.
