The Los Angeles Lakers return to the court on Tuesday night not against a championship contender but against a team with which they will forever be linked, at least when it comes to telling the story of the 2019-20 NBA season. Months after their bizarre preseason trip to China amid geopolitical and economic tensions, the Lakers will play the Brooklyn Nets for the final time this season on Tuesday night at Staples Center. And the deep connections between the two teams could get even stronger, beyond the shared trauma of being chess pieces in an international incident.
The Nets blew everyone away on Saturday when they announced that they had parted ways with head coach Kenny Atkinson, who was in his fourth season coaching the Nets. But it gets even better as Yahoo’s Vincent Goodwill reported on Tuesday that Kyrie Irving is hoping to reunite with former Cavaliers head coach Ty Lue. The online sportsbook BetOnline also has Lue as a 5/4 favorite to be the Nets’ next head coach.
Lue, of course, was courted by the Los Angeles Lakers last summer before contract talks broke down and the Lakers eventually landed on Frank Vogel. Suffice to say, the Vogel decision has proved to be the right one as the Lakers are only 2 and a half games back of the Milwaukee Bucks for the best record in the NBA.
However, the intrigue of the Nets undergoing a coaching change and the top candidate is one that shares a strong connection with LeBron James, coupled with the events of the past year, as well as the eventual return of Kevin Durant, the Lakers-Nets story appears to just be getting started.
