(06-11-2023, 05:42 PM)SleepingHero Wrote: ... Stein is speculating much like we were a couple of months ago, so I'm not reading this as if the Rockets have interest in Irving, but rather HOU is a legit place that Kyrie can use as leverage against the Mavs in order to get his max 4 year deal.
I buy all of this in the ilk of "So you're saying there's a chance??"
How much leverage is there really, when neither party wants each other? It's not really a threat. As DS indicated, that purely hypothetical leverage is just about numbers that work, and nothing more, in a situation where HOU's cap room is being used as money that may be there for EVERY free agent, but whose threat goes away when players and teams actually start talking and HOU has specific targets they are pursuing.
I don't think Kyrie would have even minimal interest in a team full of youngsters who aren't much of a team. He wants to be on a team with a running mate, like Lebron, KD, or Luka. And as for HOU, they have possible interest in Harden (and vice versa) because of experience, but that doesn't have anything to do with Kyrie.