The Los Angeles Lakers might have grand ambitions for the NBA trade deadline.
The Lakers could try to acquire Paul George from the Oklahoma City Thunder or DeMarcus Cousins from the New Orleans Pelicans prior to the trade deadline, Bleacher Report’s Eric Pincus suggested on the latest episode of the Lakers Nation podcast with Trevor Lane.
And perhaps that’s only part of the Lakers’ master plan, according to Pincus, who believes Cousins is more likely to land in Los Angeles than George.
“I think Plan A (for the offseason) is still LeBron James, and that’s probably going to be Plan A until LeBron says ‘no.’ So I don’t think they’ll do anything (at the trade deadline) that gets in the way of that,” Pincus said. “But that said, at the deadline there are two targets that they could look at.
“I don’t think they would get both. But Paul George with the Oklahoma City Thunder, they’ve been struggling over the last 10 or so games, though they’ve sort of figured it out, they’ve been climbing in the standings. So I think he may be more of a long shot. I don’t think the Thunder bail out on Paul George and Carmelo (Anthony) and Russell Westbrook and they try to make a playoff run. But there’s a real chance Paul George opts out (of his contract this offseason) and leaves and I think they are aware of that and they have to be cognizant of that and try to gauge the temperature before the deadline.
” … The Pelicans are a different story because they’re just at about .500, they’ve won a couple or so and they’re playing a little bit better. They’re getting healthier, and maybe they climb (the standings). But if they don’t climb, they’re looking at DeMarcus Cousins, and the challenge there is they don’t have any real means to replace DeMarcus Cousins.”
Pincus didn’t indicate what exactly the Lakers would be willing to trade for Cousins or George. But Cousins’ contract expires after this season, and George can opt out of his contract with the Thunder.
This season’s NBA trade deadline is 3 p.m. ET on Feb. 8, and things might get very interesting in Los Angeles by then.
