What Could the Los Angeles Lakers Get in Trade for Russ, LeBron, & AD?
While the chances the Los Angeles Lakers would trade their entire superstar big three are slim and none, it’s intriguing to consider what the purple and gold could get for Russell Westbrook, Anthony Davis, and LeBron James.
While there’s little question the Lakers will attempt to trade Russell Westbrook and his $47 million expiring contract this summer, the idea of Los Angeles also trading LeBron James and Anthony Davis would be an extreme makeover. Seriously, while it’s been a tough last two seasons, trading a James and Davis superstar duo that dominated every round of the playoffs and won their 17th NBA championship in the bubble less than 18 months ago would be stupid.
While the chances of a Lakers’ total rebuild seem remote, trading James and Davis would have to be motivated on expectation the 37-year old James and injury prone Davis are no longer good enough to win another championship. Hence, the smart move is to trade them while their value is still high enough to bring back not only younger potential stars and role players to enable the Lakers to avoid a complete overhaul and still compete for a title.
While Russ is the sure superstar the Lakers will trade, let’s look at what Los Angeles could conceivably receive for trading Russell Westbrook, then LeBron James, and finally Anthony Davis in an extreme makeover this summer.
1. Proposed Russell Westbrook Trade
The one superstar the Lakers do have to trade is Russell Westbrook, whose $47 million expiring contract should finally become a valuable trading chip. The key is finding a trade partner looking to reduce long-term commitments.
The Pacers should be one of the Lakers’ possible trading partners as they have two players in Malcolm Brogdon and Buddy Hield whose multi-year contracts they would like to move on from and who’d be major upgrades at both guards. The salary dump trade that makes sense for the Lakers and Pacers is Russell Westbrook’s $47.1 million expiring contract for Malcolm Brogdon’s 3-year $67 million contract and Buddy Hield’s 2-year $40 million contract.
What’s great about this trade is it works whether the Lakers plan to trade Anthony Davis and/or LeBron James. If the Lakers do plan to trade either of them, then they will need to expand this trade to include Pacers’ Myles Turner. The perfect solution for the Lakers would like to expand the Westbrook for Brogdon and Hield trade to include Horton-Tucker, Nunn, and the Lakers’ unprotected 2027 first round pick in return for Pacers center Myles Turner.
The expanded Westbrook trade would not only give the Lakers an elite stretch five shot blocking center in Myles Turner to replace Anthony Davis but also two high quality starters or backups in Malcolm Brogdon and Buddy Hield.
2. Proposed LeBron James Trade
If the Lakers were able to get the Pacers to trade Turner, Brogdon, and Hield for Russ, THT, Nunn, and the 2027 pick, the Lakers might be smart to stop there. Those three new starters are a perfect fit with LeBron James and AD.
A starting lineup of Brogdon, Hield, James, Davis, and Turner would solve the Lakers’ issues with size and give them the versatility to play small with Davis or James at the five or go two-bigs with Turner at the five and Davis at the four. Here’s where the Lakers’ worries about 37-year old LeBron James’ physical decline and his and Anthony Davis’ tendency to get injured become factors. The question is can LeBron and AD still lead the Lakers to championships?
LeBron James at 37-years old is already starting to show signs of physical decline and more frequent and more serious injuries. If the Lakers do not believe they can win a title with LeBron, then they should look to trade him and keep AD. Anthony Davis at 28-years old is still a top ten player and trading LeBron back to Cleveland for Collin Sexton, Lauri Markkanen, and Isaac Okoro would give the Lakers two legitimate NBA starters along with a proven elite role player.
The key to the James trade for the Lakers is Sexton and two first round draft picks to replenish their trading chips stockpile. The Lakers see Sexton as one of the team’s new young stars to replace LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
3. Proposed Anthony Davis Trade
After trading Westbrook and James, the Lakers would have two options. They could stand pat by adding Turner, Sexton, Brogdon, Hield, Markkanen, and Okoro to complement Anthony Davis or take the final step and trade AD.
Trading LeBron James may have made trading Anthony Davis a necessity due to Klutch Sports. Anthony Davis may demand to be traded if LeBron is traded. Trading LeBron and AD would certainly sever the alliance with Klutch Sports. The trade would be Anthony Davis to Boston for Jaylen Brown and Marcus Smart, giving the Lakers a second young star in Brown to pair with Sexton as the franchise’s future star duo to replace LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
While the Lakers lose Anthony Davis, they would receive two proven All-Star 3&D starters in return in Marcus Smart and Jaylen Brown. Smart is the elite defensive guard and Brown the All-Star defender and scorer the Lakers need. Today’s NBA is a guard and wing driven league and, like the earlier Westbrook and James trades, the Davis trade helps the Lakers become a better, deeper, and younger team that should have a decades long championship window.
Trading Anthony Davis would signal the end of the Lakers/Klutch alliance as well as the LeBron James 4-year stint with the purple and gold. But the trade would also be the piece de resistance of a dramatic Lakers’ extreme makeover.
4. Roster After Trading Superstar Big Three
The above Westbrook, Davis, and James trades would give give the Lakers eight new players: Myles Turner, Malcolm Brogdon, Buddy Hield, Jaylen Brown, Marcus Smart, Collin Sexton, Lauri Markkanen, and Isaac Okoro.
Five of those eight new players would be projected as starters, including Collin Sexton, Marcus Smart, Jaylen Brown, Lauri Markkanen, and Myles Turner. Brogdon, Hield, and Okoro would then become primary backups to the starters. The Lakers would also bring back four players from this year’s team: Carmelo Anthony, Austin, Reaves, and Stanley Johnson. That would leave three rosters spots open for specific free agents and young players from the NBA Draft.
The new Los Angeles Lakers roster would be extremely talented and deep at both guard and small forward positions with three All-Star quality starters in Sexton, Smart, and Brown and three high quality backups in Brogdon, Hield, and Okoro. While Turner gives the Lakers a shot-blocking stretch five center, they will also need to use their empty roster spots and even a trade of a valued guard like Hield to upgrade their front court with a power forward like Christian Wood.
There’s no question the Lakers should be able to find trading partners for all three of their superstars should they decide to undergo an extreme makeover. The resulting Lakers roster could even be good enough to be a contender. However, we’ve all seen how teams constructed on paper often don’t translate on the actual hardwood. It’s easy to see from the above discussions that there are logical stopping points for the Lakers after trading Russ and then LeBron.
The Lakers will try to trade Russell Westbrook and explore what they might be able to get for LeBron James and Anthony Davis. But there are scenarios where the dominos line up and the Lakers trade all three of their superstars.
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