Don’t blink but Rob Pelinka is a blockbuster trade away from pulling off a miracle makeover that could see the Lakers start this season with a roster that’s better and deeper than their bubble championship team.
Think about what a preposterous statement that is because the Lakers, with the roster they have right now, would not even be a play-in team much less a playoff team. But that could change suddenly with a blockbuster trade. What Lakers fans have to remember is LeBron James and Anthony Davis, when healthy and rested, have already shown they can not only lead a team to an NBA championship but dominate the rest of the league while doing it.
What if the Lakers can trade Russell Westbrook, Talen Horton-Tucker, and their 2027 and 2029 first round draft picks for either Kyrie Irving and Joe Harris or Myles Turner, Buddy Hield, Patrick Beverley, and T.J. McConnell? Swapping Russell Westbrook’s $47 million expiring contract for two players like Irving and Harris or for four players like Turner, Hield, Beverly, and McConnell making the same money could transform the Lakers’ rotations.
Let’s compare the rosters the Lakers would have were they to trade with the Nets for Kyrie Irving and Joe Harris or Pacers and Jazz for Myles Turner, Buddy Hield, T.J. McConnell, and Patrick Beverley with the bubble champs.
Comparing Lakers After Kyrie Irving Trade to Bubble Champs
Let’s first compare the rosters the Lakers would have were they to trade Russell Westbrook and Talen Horton-Tucker to the Brooklyn Nets for Kyrie Irving and Joe Harris with the roster of the 2020 bubble champs.
Starters?
Irving and Harris would be upgrades over Caldwell-Pope and Green. While Bryant adds outside shooting, Howard is still the better center. Bottom line, Lakers’ post Nets trade starters would be better than bubble champs.
Backups?
This chart illustrates the hidden strength of the Lakers championship in the bubble was its backups. While Nunn, Reaves, and Jones are comparable to Rondo, Caruso, and McGee, no current backups match Kuzma or Morris.
Overall?
Even with weak backups, swapping Russell Westbrook for Kyrie Irving gives the Lakers a legitimate superstar big three no team in the league can match. Lakers would be among favorites to win it all if they trade for Kyrie.
Comparing Lakers After Pacers and Jazz Trade to Bubble Champs
Now lets compare the Lakers roster if they traded Westbrook to the Pacers for Turner, Hield, and McConnell and Talen Horton-Tucker to the Jazz for 3&D point guard Patrick Beverley with the roster of the bubble champs.
Starters?
Trading Westbrook to the Pacers for Myles Turner and Buddy Hield and THT to the Jazz for Patrick Beverley would give the Lakers their best starting lineup in the LeBron era, even better than their bubble champs.
Backups?
While McConnell and Nunn give the Lakers a quality duo of backup guards comparable to what the bubble champs had, Los Angeles still does not have veteran backups who can compare to Kuzma, Morris, and McGee.
Overall?
Featuring younger, more athletic rather than older veteran backups, the Lakers’ roster after trading with the Pacers and Jazz would be bigger, better, and deeper than the roster of the team’s 2020 bubble champions.
We keep hearing so much about how the Lakers won a championship and then threw away all the players who were responsible for the win for new player who did not come through.
Right now, the two things the Lakers need are shooting and size. The Pacers deal for Turner, Hield, and McConnell followed up by a Jazz trade for PatBev would give the Lakers four high quality starter or rotation players to complement LeBron and AD.
Personally, I will be happy with either the Nets or Pacers deal, although I prefer the Pacers deal because of defense and depth we get as a result. Not enough basketballs or cap space to build great 3 superstar team imo.
GIT ER DUN!
That’s because they did throw all those players away in the name of competing against the Nets or whatever flavor was en vogue. We were a 1st round draft pick garage sale, anyone could talk Rob into coughing some up.
https://twitter.com/LakerTom/status/1560416077011566593
https://twitter.com/LakerTom/status/1560415730364911616
Ahhh, the 14th time we’ve compared the same 2 trades. Sweet. Taking “speaking it into existence” to a whole new level. Didn’t work for LaVar, we’ll how it works for LT.
I guess I just don’t derive much pleasure from comparing a team that doesn’t exist to one that actually accomplished something. I’ll say one thing and that’s team that doesn’t exist lacks the pedigree and professionalism to the bubble team, which actually existed. JaVight McHoward put on a master class in supporting your teammates during the playoffs from the sidelines while having been counted on to help win games in the regular season. Don’t see anyone on the current roster who has that in them. Green had the character and poise to shake off a series clinching miss and follow it up with a stellar game. Reaves ain’t Caruso, THT hasn’t adjusted to the league figuring out his game, and so on. A lot of the guys we’ve traded for 800 times virtually play for an agenda not for the team. The poster child for this is obviously Kyrie but Beverly has the need to constantly prove he belongs with his WWE antics instead of just letting his game do the yapping. Turner hasn’t sniffed a DPOY because , like AD, he can’t stay on the floor. Buddy is the best one trick pony in the league. Still, just a pony that does one thing. In the end these kind of things just ain’t my bag. The bubble team was a collection show vets and up and comers who had a lot to prove and the pedigree to fall back on to keep cool when the pressure was. I just don’t see that in the imaginary teams. They’re built to hang in, keep a job, appease a superstar. This isn’t planning, it’s desperation and it’s reeked of it since last October. Hard for me to get excited about that but there are always surprises, I’m pumped to go to the Gasol retirement game (and would be happy to join some Lakerholics if any care to join me) and really I just want AD to play as close to 82 as possible. Got a punchers chance if he and LeBron can contribute.
There are some assumptions & variables that aren’t taken into account on these equations. An important one is that Asterisk LBJ/AD = Current LBJ/AD. The last few seasons have shown that not to be the case and there won’t be several months of rest before the post-season this time around. Nobody’s calling them 2 of the Top 5 players in the league anymore. Another is that it discounts the defensive tandem of KCP & Green. That lineup was BIG and talented on that end of the court…something these 2 proposals won’t come close to matching. Another is that the only halfway decent coaching move Frankie ever made was finally putting AD at center during the Asterisk Tournament and it was a huge part of that run. Now we’re talking about putting him at the 3? Ok. The last one off the top of my head is the level of competition we’re gonna face now. GSW was a non-factor then. Jah wasn’t around. PHX was just scratching the surface. Luca is a different guy. Joker has 2 MVP’s under his belt. I’m not sure if any of the teams we beat in 2020 would even be a top 4 seed now. The Asterisk Lineup won’t go down as an all-time great but they were good for the job they were given to do and the bench was miles ahead of what we’ll send out there this year. We’ll need to be extremely fortunate to get past the 2nd Round. Like a buncha dudes on other teams get injured type of fortunate….
Yeah, it’s one reason I’m fine not seeing us use all the picks this summer. I don’t see Kyrie/Harris/Curry/Buddy/Turner/McConnell moving the needle a lot. The bench will be terrible since ball of those guys pretty much slot into the starting 5. Reaves, THT, Stanley, Gabriel, LW4, and PTA are all potential and not even much of that. They’d have been end of the bench guys (at best) on the bubble team. The biggest thing will always be how the break let AD and LBJ essentially come into the playoffs fresh. Won’t ever be like that again.
Just stopped by to say that I can’t stand PBeverly, and hate this trade. Out.