Last summer, it was Jayson Tatum who had Kobe Bryant's attention as the Celtics forward worked out with the Lakers legend and the guy from whom Tatum admitted, "I stole a lot of his moves."
Now, rumor has it that it's Kyrie Irving who Bryant is keeping an eye on. Bleacher Report and Fox Sports 1 NBA Insider Ric Bucher told Colin Cowherd on Tuesday that Bryant has been recruiting Irving "to get him to the Lakers."
"It's between Brooklyn and the Lakers... I was told in the last 24 hours Kobe has been recruiting Kyrie in particular, to get him to the Lakers. Everything I've heard I would still expect Kyrie is going to go to Brooklyn... He just bought a place in South Orange." - @RicBucher pic.twitter.com/HICrTPushl — Herd w/Colin Cowherd (@TheHerd) May 28, 2019
Despite Bryant's sell job, it's the Brooklyn Nets where Bucher expects Irving to land. That jibes with his FS1 colleague Chris Broussard's theory of the Nets pushing hard for an Anthony Davis-Kyrie pairing.
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The Jersey-born Irving recently purchased "a place" in South Orange, N.J., Bucher reports.
Should Kyrie choose to stay with the Celtics, he'll apparently forgo his home-state roots, the lure of the Knicks in the Big Apple and the recruiting efforts of LeBron James and Bryant to stick around.
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