How Could Lakers Trade for the Four Players Identified as Primary Targets?
The Los Angeles Lakers have supposedly identified four players as primary targets in a Westbrook and picks trade: the Pacers’ Myles Turner and Buddy Hield, the Hornets’ Terry Rozier, and the Spurs’ Josh Richardson.
This information is confirmed by other reports that the Lakers offseason trade efforts focused on two, three, and four team trades that would enable them to assemble a best of collection of players from multiple teams.
What the Lakers hope to do is pull off a miraculous multiple-team trade for three new starters to give LeBron James and Anthony Davis the desperately needed positional size advantage and dead-eye volume 3-point shooting.
That won’t be an easy thing to do as the Lakers don’t have many assets of value to trade other than Westbrook and their two first round draft picks. But multiple-team trades often make it easier for teams to match salaries. The Lakers have several other players on expiring contracts who could be traded for better fitting players on longer term contracts that their team would prefer to get off of to reduce operating expenses or luxury taxes.
Besides Russell Westbrook and their two first round draft picks, the Lakers have several players on expiring contracts who could be packaged in a trade, including Patrick Beverley, Lonnie Walker IV, and Kendrick Nunn. Beverley has a $13.0 million, Walker a $6.4 million, and Nunn a $5.2 million expiring contract. All three are players who theoretically are good fits for the Lakers but could be flipped for players who are better 3-point shooters.
So let’s take the Lakers for their word and explore how they might be able to trade for Myles Turner, Buddy Hield, Terry Rozier, and Josh Richardson. Everything would have to go right, but here’s how the Lakers could do it.
- The Heart of any Lakers Move is the Indiana Pacers Trade
The heart of any Russell Westbrook trade has to be the Indiana Pacers and center Myles Turner and guard Buddy Hield, for whom the Lakers were apparently very close to trading right before the start of training camp.
Ideally, what the Lakers want to do is somehow trade for Turner and Hield while retaining one of their two first round draft picks, which they could then use to pursue either Richardson or Rozier or other elite role players. Even if Pelinka has to give up both picks to get Turner and Hield, the Pacers’ deal is critical because they’re the only team that can offer two elite players who are great Lakers fits, which the Spurs, Hornets, or Jazz can’t.
How much should the Lakers be willing to give up for Turner and Hield? Pelinka should certainly try to get them for Westbrook and a pick and a swap. If he has to give p both picks, he should also get T.J. McConnell. Bottom line, the Pacers deal is not just about shooting and spacing. It’s also about defense and giving LeBron James and Anthony Davis positional size advantage and the Lakers the ability to play jumbo big or super small.
So the Indiana Pacers are the first team in the Los Angeles Lakers multiple team trade of Russell Westbrook and their 2027 and 2029 unprotected first round draft picks for Myles Turner, Buddy Hield, and T.J. McConnell.
Myles Turner, 26 -year old center, 6' 11", 250 lbs
12.6/6.5/1.0 shooting 50.9%/33.3%/75.2% on 9.4/4.4/2.5 shots
Buddy Hield, 29-year old shooting guard, 6' 4", 220 lbs
15.6/4.4/2.8 shooting 40.6%/36.6%/87.4% on 13.6/8.8/1.6 shots
T.J. McConnell, 30-year old, 6' 1", 190 lbs
8.5/3.3/4.9 shooting 48.1%/30.3%/82.6% on 7.7/1.2/0.9 shots
2. Next Target Should be a Point Guard to Replace Russell Westbrook
For the purposes of this article, I’m going to assume that the Lakers gave up both of their first round picks in the Pacers deal. Had they been able to keep one of their picks, I think they would keep that for next summer.
So the question is who should be next on the Lakers trade big board? Rozier or Richardson? The fact that Rozier is a point guard who can replace Russ makes him the Lakers’ logical next target. He’s also the better player. Michael Jordan has been put in a tough situation because of the Miles Bridges situation. Now Melo is injured and Victor Wembanyama looks like a generational talent, it makes perfect sense for the Hornets to tank.
But it’s hard to tank with a point guard talent like Terry Rozier and it’s hard to pay out $96 million to him over the next four years if the team is going to tank and try to figure out how to recover from the big loss of Miles Bridges. While it could be argued that Rozier was worth a first round pick, there’s no team that’s going to give up a first to take on Terry’s $96 million over four years. The issue will be what can the Lakers offer that beats other teams.
The answer for the Lakers is offering to save the Hornets over $75 million by trading Beverley’s $13.0 million and Walker’s $6.4 million expiring contracts in exchange for Rozier and his 4-year $96 million contract.
Note: Lonnie Walker IV was recently signed and cannot be traded until Dec 15
Terry Rozier, 28-year old point guard, 6' 1", 190 lbs
19.3/4.3/4.5 shooting 44.4%/37.4%/85.2% on 16.0/8.1/2.4 shots
3. Third Target Should be a Bigger 3&D Wing
At 6' 6", Josh Richardson is exactly what the Lakers need in the form of a bigger 3&D wing. JRich is not only a dead-eye 3-point shooter, making 44.4% of 4.3 threes per game, but also an elite defender with wing size.
The Spurs are tanking and will be looking for draft capital or young talent in exchange for Richardson, who is on a $12.1 million expiring contract. He’s not worth a first so the Lakers will have to get creative to get Josh. Maybe an offer of rookie Max Christie, Kendrick Nunn, and a second round pick with Thomas Bryant and Wenyen Gabriel added as filler could work.
While Turner, Hield, and Rozier give the Lakers’ three new starters to complement James and Davis, adding Richardson would give the Lakers a true bigger 3&D wing to play small forward when the Lakers go small.
A bench of Dennis Schroder, Austin Reaves, Josh Richardson, Juan Toscano-Anderson or Troy Brown, Jr., and Damian Jones would complete a successful extreme makeover of the Los Angeles Lakers entire roster.
The best package the Los Angeles Lakers can put together to trade for the Spurs’ Josh Richardson would be Kendrick Nunn, Max Christie, and a second round pick plus Thomas Bryant and Wenyen Gabriel as salary filler.
Note: Josh Richardson was recently signed and cannot be traded until Dec 15
Josh Richardson, 29-year old shooting guard, 6' 6", 190 lbs
11.4/2.9/4.3 shooting 42.9%/44.4%/94.6% on 9.1/4.3/1.8 shots
4. Lakers’ Roster After Adding the Three Trades
The three trades essentially give the Los Angeles Lakers an extreme makeover, swapping seven players who can’t shoot for five players who can shoot and are better fits alongside LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
The trades dramatically upgraded the Lakers starting lineup, adding front court size and and defense in Myles Turner and superior back court high volume, high percentage 3-point shooting in Buddy Hield and Terry Rozier. The trades also gave the Lakers a better and deeper bench, with two new reserves in point guard T.J. McConnell and small forward Josh Richardson, who join Austin Reaves, Troy Brown, Jr, and Damian Jones as the backups.
When you look at the skillsets of the Lakers’ five new players, you can immediately see that Hield, Rozier, and Richardson add volume 3-point shooting while Turner, McConnell, and Richardson add elite defense. While the Lakers will have to wait until December 15 to trade for Rozier and Richardson, they should be able to trade for Turner, Hield, and McConnell right now so they can begin to turn the season around.
The blend of size, shooting, and defense the Lakers got from these three trades will elevate the team from a play-in candidate to a solid top-6 team in the West with a legitimate opportunity to win another NBA championship.
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