Thursday marked the beginning of the unofficial trade season for the NBA.
The Lakers have struggled this season, to say the least. Los Angeles is 12th in the Western Conference as of Friday and are 2.5 games out of the play-in tournament. LeBron James is on his last legs, and Anthony Davis’ career appears to be dependent on his health.
The west appears to be wide open, especially with the Warriors losing Stephen Curry for “a few weeks,” but his shoulder injury is sure to affect Golden State for the rest of the 2022-23 season.
It might be why the Lakers want to get aggressive in making moves to help strengthen the roster. The Athletic’s Jovan Buha looked at Los Angeles’ trade scenarios that are centered around Russell Westbrook, Patrick Beverley and Kendrick Nunn. The former’s trade rumors are well documented. Westbrook’s fit alongside James and Davis has long been questioned, but there simply aren’t many willing takers, unless a team is committed to tanking and willing to take on Westbrook’s $47.1 million contract.
The nine-time All-Star is producing career lows in field-goal percentage at 30.3%, 3-point percentage at 25.4%, 2-point percentage at 40.6%, effective field-goal percentage at 38.9%, true shooting percentage at 43.9%, points with 4.6 and assists with 2.4.
The Lakers have been linked to Detroit Pistons wing Bojan Bogdanovic, as well as New York Knicks wings Evan Fournier and Cam Reddish. But the team has larger ambitions.
“In addition, other names that have come up are DeMar DeRozan, Kyle Kuzma, Myles Turner, Buddy Hield, Kyrie Irving and Doug McDermott,” Buha wrote Friday. “All of these players fit the bill as either wings, bigs or stars. In the ultimate pie-in-the-sky scenario, the Lakers have interest in Kevin Durant, Damian Lillard and Bradley Beal if any of the three stars were to become available.”
Yes, Los Angeles would like to acquire Durant, Lillard and Beal. The Charlotte Hornets would like an NBA Championship, but that’s probably not happening in the near future.
The Lakers hope to make a deal sometime by the end of December or in January, according to Buha. General manager Rob Pelinka will hope to provide fans with a competitive team, or the season will be a long one.
