Lakers reportedly targeting Kyrie Irving in free agency

The Los Angeles Lakers have cleared enough salary cap space for a third max contract player, and it sounds like they are going to try their best to land one.

The New York Times’ Marc Stein reported on Thursday night that the Lakers will be targeting Kyrie Irving in free agency as much as they are going after Kawhi Leonard.

Kyrie Irving remains as much a target for the Lakers as Kawhi Leonard, league sources say, now that the Lakers are sure they can open maximum cap space. They are swinging for the fences despite all of the signals that have pointed Irving to Brooklyn …

— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) June 28, 2019

The Lakers are one of the teams that reportedly will have a free agent meeting with Leonard, who is also reportedly strongly considering a return to Toronto. The Southern California native was believed to have been down to the Clippers and Raptors as his finalists, but he seems to be open to hearing other free agent pitches.

Irving has been strongly linked to the Brooklyn Nets, but he also was said in the past to have been open to a reunion with LeBron James. The Lakers will see if they can make that happen.

So far the Lakers are set to have four players on their roster for next season: LeBron, Anthony Davis, Kyle Kuzma, and second-round pick Talen Horton-Tucker. They have created cap space and will now decide how to use it. If they spend it on one player, that will give them tremendous star power, but make them hurt for depth.