Bill Simmons' Kyrie Irving-Jalen Brunson Trade Makes Perfect Sense

Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant appear to be the only two people who think Kyrie Irving should be playing with Kevin Durant in Brooklyn next season. The Nets don't want to give Irving a new deal and everyone is happy to imagine Kyrie getting traded, including Bill Simmons and Ryen Russillo, who discussed six potential landing spots for Irving on a podcast earlier this week.

Make no mistake, we are *not* aggregating this. We would simply like to point out that the idea of a Kyrie Irving-Jalen Bruson trade is kind of enticing.

Kyrie has a lot of experience playing alongside Kevin Durant and LeBron James. The idea of him sharing a backcourt with Luka Doncic doesn't sound so crazy. He would be an upgrade from Brunson and give the Mavericks another high-level shot-maker who can operate at the end of games to take a lot of pressure off Luka.

The Mavs are the kind of organization that might take a swing at Kyrie. Yes, they just made the Western Conference Finals, but Brunson might be on his way to New York on his own. If they could make this happen it would be a pretty good return. Plus, you know there will never be any vaccine requirements that keep Kyrie from playing home games in Texas.

The Nets would probably be thrilled to put a normal human being alongside Durant. Brunson appeared in 79 games this season which is more than Kyrie Irving has ever played in any season in his entire career. He would be a rare Brooklyn Nets player in that he would be in uniform most nights. Patty Mills appeared in 81 games this season. Bruce Brown played in 72 and no other player appeared in more than 67 games.

So this works out for both teams. The question is, will Kevin Durant allow it?