The Los Angeles Lakers are desperate. Everybody knows it, and no one is about to bail them out.
They were willing to mortgage the rest of their future to pair Kyrie Irving with LeBron James and Anthony Davis and pray the 30-year-old point guard does not bring his blowtorch to his fourth different franchise in six years. Even that was not enough to sway the Brooklyn Nets from accepting a package of Dorian Finney-Smith, Spencer Dinwiddie and an unprotected first-round draft pick in 2029 from the Dallas Mavericks.