The Los Angeles Lakers have been widely expected to re-sign Austin Reaves, Rui Hachimura and possibly D'Angelo Russell while eschewing the cap space route this offseason.

But because Russell's play was uneven, the Lakers could consider free agent options such as Kyrie Irving and Fred VanVleet. Irving and VanVleet are unrestricted free agents with connections to the Lakers. Irving previously played with LeBron James for three seasons with the Cleveland Cavaliers, while VanVleet is represented by Rich Paul.

If Irving were to leave the Dallas Mavericks, it would 

"The Lakers do have other options beyond Kyrie Irving and not only just Fred VanVleet," said Brian Windhorst on GetUp. "The reason Fred VanVleet comes up is because it's not clear whether the Raptors are going to move forward with the team that they have. It's possible the Raptors can let him walk. And Fred VanVleet is represented by Rich Paul.

"If the Lakers open up the $30 million in cap room, they also have first round draft picks they can trade. There's a whole bunch of other options open to them via trade that wouldn't necessarily be just Kyrie Irving."

Jovan Buha of The Athletic reported that the Lakers have held internal discussions on trading for Trae Young of the Atlanta Hawks.