The formula for the Lakers winning their 18th NBA title next season is to add Myles Turner and Buddy Hield to a core of LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Austin Reaves, Rui Hachimura, Lonnie Walker, and Max Christie.
The Lakers almost traded Russell Westbrook for Turner and Hield before the start of training camp last season but ultimately decided to wait until the trade deadline, which in the end looks like it was the right decision. Having made it to the conference finals, the Lakers still need more size and better shooting and defense to truly compete for an NBA championship. Ironically, what they need right now is Myles Turner and Buddy Hield.
Ultimately, the Lakers decided not to trade for Turner and Hield last summer because they did not believe adding them to the roster the team had at that point in time would have made them a championship team. Obviously, Pelinka’s trade deadline makeover changed the answer to that question. Adding Myles Turner and Buddy Hield to the conference finals team would make the Lakers favorites to win their 18th championship.
Let’s look at what a Lakers’ trade for Myles Turner and Buddy Hield might look like, why the Lakers and the Pacers would make the trade, and what the Lakers’ depth chart and salary cap would look like after the trade.
The Turner and Hield Trade
The Lakers trade Malik Beasley, Mo Bamba, Jarred Vanderbilt, #17 pick in the 2023 NBA draft, and team’s unprotected first round pick in the 2029 draft for Myles Turner, Buddy Hield, and Indiana’s #29 pick in this draft.
The Pacers have the #7, #26, #29, #32, and #55 picks in this draft, which is more picks than they have roster spots. Their goal is to combine their #7 pick and the Lakers #17 pick to move up into the top-5 in the current draft. Because they have more picks than they’re able to use, the Pacers are willing to give the Lakers their #29 pick, which they originally received from Boston. The Lakers give up two high first rounders for one low one.
One interesting aspect of the trade is the two teams are swapping stretch centers and 3-point shooting guards. In Bamba and Beasley, the Pacers essentially receive poor man’s versions of Myles Turner and Buddy Hield. Bamba and Beasley could slide right into the rotation spots occupied by Turner and Hield. Since both are on reasonable contracts, the Pacers could also flip them before the trade deadline for younger players or picks.
While Beasley and Bamba have value as players and trading chips, it’s Jarred Vanderbilt and the Lakers’ #17 pick in this draft and their 2029 first round pick unprotected that make the trade a big win for the Pacers.
Why the Lakers Make the Trade
While trading for Myles Turner and Buddy Hield last summer might not have made the Lakers a championship team, adding the modern two-way center and elite 3-point shooter now could make L.A. the title favorites.
Despite successfully making it to the conference finals, the Lakers need more size and better shooting and defense to be a legitimate championship contender. That’s exactly where Myles Turner and Buddy Hield come in. Turner gives the Lakers an elite modern two-way center to anchor the defense, allowing Anthony Davis to split his minutes between the 4 and 5 and giving the Lakers solid positional size advantage in the front court.
27-year old Myles Turner had a career last season, averaging 18.0 points, 7.5 rebounds, 1.4 assists, 2.3 blocks, and 0.6 steals in 29.4 minutes per game while shooting 54.8%/37.3%/78.3% on 11.8/4.0/4.5 shot attempts per game.
30-year old Buddy Hield also enjoyed an excellent last season, averaging 16.8 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 2.8 assists in 31.0 minutes per game while shooting 45.8/42.5/82.2% on 13.0/8.5/1.6 shot attempts per game.
Trading for Myles Turner and Buddy Hield dramatically improves the Lakers’ size, shooting, and defense and transforms last season’s conference finals team into a legitimate contender to win the NBA championship.
Why the Pacers Make the Trade
It looks as if the Indiana Pacers’ refusal last summer to lower their price of two first round draft picks for Myles Turner and Buddy Hield could end up paying off big this summer as the Lakers could revisit an Indiana trade.
Despite wanting to make the playoffs, the Indiana Pacers should move on from 27-year old Myles Turner and 30-year old Buddy Hield and rebuild around 23-year old Tyrese Haliburton and 20-year old Bennedict Mathurin. The Pacers want to upgrade their roster this summer with a small or power forward with star upside and are said to be interested in packaging their #7 pick with other assets to move up and draft a specific player in the top-5.
Besides finally landing the Lakers’ 2029 unprotected first round pick they coveted last year, the Pacers could package their #7 pick with the Lakers’ #17 pick to move up for whatever player they’re targeting in the top-5. Finally, receiving a talented young defensive wing like Jarred Vanderbilt and two tradable players on expiring contracts whom they can flip at the trade deadline make this trade a big winner for the Indiana Pacers.
The Pacers rebuilding efforts will get a big boost by landing the Lakers #17 pick in this month’s draft, L.A.’s unprotected 2029 first round draft pick, and a promising young, defensive wing in 24-year old Jarred Vanderbilt.
Lakers Roster After the Trade
The Lakers’ starting lineup after the Pacers trade includes Austin Reaves, Buddy Hield, LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Myles Turner with backups of Chris Paul, Max Christie, Lonnie Walker, Rui Hachimura, and James Nnaji.
Adding Myles Turner, Buddy Hield, and Chris Paul to the conference finals core of LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Austin Reaves, Max Christie, Rui Hachimura, and Lonnie Walker gives the Lakers an elite 9-man rotation. That rotation would enable the Lakers to have an elite rim protector on the court for 48 minutes of every game. They would be able to go jumbo-big with Turner and Davis or small-ball-on-steroids with Davis and James.
From a long-term perspective, adding two major pieces who are 27 and 30-years old and share the same championship window as Anthony Davis just continues the Lakers’ savvy efforts to become younger and more athletic.
The Lakers are betting on two more years of LeBron James as a superstar and are smartly preparing themselves to be ready to use the $50 million in cap space that will open up when James retires for another superstar.
Adding Myles Turner, Buddy Hield, and Chris Paul and two draft picks to the core six players from the Lakers’ conference finals team should give the Lakers the size, shooting, and defense to win their 18th NBA championship.
Lakers Salary Cap After the Trade
While they’ll need to set limits to what they’ll pay free agents like Reaves, Hachimura, Walker, the Lakers’ total salaries will be under the $169 million hard cap without actually triggering any of the actions to force a hard cap.
Since the Lakers have not used their NT MLE or BAE or received a player via a sign-and-trade, they are not required to stay under the hard cap. They could easily decide to make moves, add payroll, and become a taxpayer. They could also hard cap themselves at $169 million by receiving a player via a sign-and-trade or deciding to use the $12.2 million NT MLE (Non-Taxpayer Mid Level Exception) or $4.4 million BAE (Bi-Annual Exception).
Pelinka and the Lakers front office have done a great job putting together an impressive portfolio of valuable players on tradable contracts that give them extensive ability to pounce on any opportunities that might come up. Rob should have won Executive of the Year for the masterful job he did making over the Lakers roster at the trade deadline. If he can pull off this Turner and Hield trade, he’ll finally be rewarded with next year’s award.
The bottom line is the Lakers would be in a very advantageous salary cap situation after trading for Myles Turner and Buddy Hield. The team would be championship favorites with a talented roster full of tradable assets.
https://twitter.com/LakerTom/status/1669040484797530112
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Better than last year’s team.
https://twitter.com/LakerTom/status/1669041489366892546
That backcourt is getting smoked. Our frontcourt held its own against The Joker but Jamal cooked us every single night. Please..no more one dimensional 3pt “specialists”.
Per the Pacers beat writers the Pacer would like to move up a couple of spots in the draft to draft a PF to pair with Turner. There is no current evidence that they are shopping Turner, although I would not be surprised if they approached the Suns for a Turner for Ayton deal, considering they gave Ayton an offer sheet last year.
The Turner/Ayton trade could happen. I do think the Lakers and Pacers are keeping touch regarding the pick situation, which is good as it could easily morph into a trade for Turner and/or Hield from a simple pick swap. Word is Pacers have eyes on somebody in the top-5.
They like Jarace Walker, a strong PF that can shoot. He could fall to 7 but the Pistons might be interested at 5. Probably want to get to 4 unless the Pistons are willing to trade out of 5.
Hard to see the Pacers trading up that high w/our pick. There isn’t likely to be a world beater available bay 17, although it always has to be shown on the court and not on a highlight reel. The main thing is I just don’t see a huge impetus for the Pacers to make this trade now.
They’re well under the cap and could absorb any number of what will likely be better than ours players from any number of teams. That’s not to say those players will be moved…yet. It’s to say that in order to make that deal happen this summer the Lakers are likely to have to overpay. So that takes into bad deal territory. Everyone seems to love to tell the Pacers their business. Yet every season they do the exact same thing: hold the line and hope it breaks in their favor. Small markets can afford to be patient like this, they’re working the draft and they’ll work the trade market to keep a blend of young an vet. Buddy Heild will be a trade deadline boon for both the Pacers (under the cap as-is w/a lot of incoming youth) and the contender that needs him. They’ll get better than our 2029 at the deadline unless he’s hurt and even then his deal still comes off their books.
If there’s a deal out there where Indy can move up by packaging our pick this season…maybe? Still feels like a long shot.
Everything in your world is a long shot, Jamie.
Yessir. I can just see there could be a lot more factors than “fits pretty well on the Lakers” and “we have a draft pick 6 years out”. Indy won’t make a preseason knee jerk trade, they have time and assets, already.
It’s why I floated in both our shows that I can easily envision Rob keeping one or both of Malik and Mo, they’ll be solid assets to move at the deadline when the season’s picture is far more clear.