Clippers have interest in acquiring Nets star Kyrie Irving

For the first hour of the Clippers’ Saturday night here, the focus was on the action taking place in the heart of Manhattan’s Madison Square Garden.

Then the attention shifted away from the night’s matchup against the Knicks, across the East River.

The Clippers have joined a number of suitors — a group that includes the Lakers — pursuing possible trades for Brooklyn point guard Kyrie Irving, people with knowledge of the situation but not authorized to speak publicly on the matter confirmed.

The NBA’s trade deadline is Thursday, but there is a belief the Nets could be motivated to make a move quicker than that. The front offices of the Nets and Clippers worked as trade partners in 2020.

Irving has generated a litany of off-court headlines and controversy since joining the Nets in 2019, from missing the majority of the 2021-22 season after he declined to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, to a trade demand last summer and an eight-game suspension this season after posting a link on social media to a movie that included antisemitic messages. Then he reportedly asked to be traded again Friday over disagreements with the Nets over a contract extension.

Still, Irving has supporters within the Clippers because of his elite play at point guard, a position the Clippers have been looking to upgrade in the weeks before Thursday’s trade deadline. The Clippers have also been linked to trades for Toronto’s Fred VanVleet and Utah’s Mike Conley, among others.

With the Clippers, Irving would reunite with his former coach in Cleveland, Tyronn Lue, who coached Irving at his career’s ultimate high during the 2016 championship run with LeBron James. This season Irving has played 40 games for Brooklyn while averaging 27.1 points and 5.3 assists on 48% shooting.

Last summer, the team’s pursuit of Irving felt tepid over concerns of his reliability. Before the June draft, team president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank was not asked about Irving directly but said the team evaluated additions by understanding “the basketball character of the player.” Innately, he said, the team’s best players are its leaders.

“Your people create your culture,” Frank said, “and so yeah, we look at all those things and try to study, if we are going to bring this player in the locker room, how does it fit?”

Irving did not play in or attend Brooklyn’s victory Saturday against Washington, citing calf soreness. Nets coach Jacque Vaughn told reporters that he is approaching Irving’s absence as day-to-day.