The only way the Los Angeles Lakers can upgrade their starting point guard, shooting guard, and center positions is to find trading partners able and willing to sign-and-trade for Dennis Schroder and Montrezl Harrell.
Otherwise, the Lakers simple don’t have the trading chips to do more than fill one of those three starting positions. Right now, the Lakers’ only major tradeable contracts are Kuzma’s and KCP’s $13 million annual contracts. Finding trading partners to pay Schroder the $25 million and Harrell the $15 million they’re seeking will be challenging but would give the Lakers the additional trading chips they need to rebuild their starting lineups.
So let’s take a look at which NBA teams could be interested in sign-and-trade deals for either Dennis Schroder or Montrezl Harrell and who also could have a player or players who would be good fits on the Lakers.
1. Kyle Lowry and the Toronto Raptors
The Lakers should obviously revisit the failed Schroder and Caldwell-Pope for Lowry deal that fell through at last season’s trade deadlline because the Lakers would not include young star Horton-Tucker as part of the package.
In retrospect, the Lakers and the Raptors both could have second thoughts about not going through with this deal as both teams’ seasons ended on a low note. The question is what would a resurrected trade look like today. The Lakers are in a pure win-now mode but aren’t willing to invest over $20 million per year on Dennis Schroder while the Raptors want to do right by Kyle Lowry but could benefit by swapping him for a younger point guard.
While the original deal is no longer viable, a straight up double sign-and-trade of Schroder for Lowry could make sense for both teams and prevent them from losing a star point guard to free agency with nothing in return.
2. Buddy Hield and Sacramento Kings
Another deal discussed last season the Lakers should revisit was the trade of Kyle Kuzma for the Kings’ Buddy Hield. The Lakers have long coveted Hield for his 3-point shooting while the Kings have long had their eyes on Kuzma.
Buddy Hield’s high volume, high percentage 3-point shooting is exactly what the Lakers need offensively while Kyle Kuzma enjoyed his best season ever playing under Kings’ coach Luke Walton when he coached the Lakers. With the emergence of rookie Tyrese Halliburton as the Kings’ starting shooting guard, Sacremento is looking to get off Hield’s big contract and could also use a quality scoring big to back up Richaun Holmes at center.
A trade of Kyle Kuzma and Montrezl Harrell for Buddy Hield would give the Lakers the elite 3-point shooting two guard they need while giving the Kings two elite role players who would upgrade their bench and roster.
3. Russell Westbrook and Washington Wizards
Russell Westbrook’s a mediocre 3-point shooter, only averaging 30.5% from deep for his career, and a turnover machine, averaging almost 5 per game, but he’s also a walking and talking triple-double averaging 22.2/11.5/11.7.
It’s hard to fathom what the Washington Wizard’s game plan is going forward but there’s a point where they need to trade Bradley Beal and Russell Westbrook and begin the long term task of rebuilding their roster. The win now Los Angeles Lakers need an upgrade a point guard over Dennis Schroder and Russell Westbrook would give them an elite triple-double point guard to complement LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
Trading Dennis Schroder, Kyle Kuzma, and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope for Russell Westbrook could give the Lakers the third superstar they need to compete against the Brooklyn Nets and their Superstar Big Three.
4. Devonte Graham and Malik Monk and the Charlotte Hornets
The Los Angeles Lakers are looking for high volume, high percentage 3-point shooters and the Charlotte Hornets need more front court size and diversity and showed interest in trading for Kuzma and Harrell last season.
With the emergence of LaMelo Ball as starting point guard, Terry Rozier has moved to starting shooting guard and the Hornets have a surplus of good 3-point shooting guards to be traded for more front court size and diversity. Charlotte needs upgrades at both the starting power forward and center positions to balance their guard and wing heavy roster. Kuzma would slide right into the starting power forwar slot while Harrell would be 6th man.
Trading Harrell and Kuzma for Graham and Monk should be a win-win for both the Lakers and the Hornets. The Lakers get desperately needed 3-point shooting in the backcourt while the Hornets get great depth at the 4 and 5.
KYLE LOWRY TRADE
With Lowry, Schroder, and Horton-Tucker now free agents, there’s no way to resurrect the trade the Lakers and Raptors almost made at the trade deadline. Frankly, both teams probably regretted not making the trade in retrospect.
A straight double S&T of Schroder for Lowry, however, might be an excellent deal for both teams. Lowry and Schroder would obviously both have to agree to be sign-and-traded. The Raptors want to help Kyle go where he wants out of loyalty and would be happy to get a young point guard like Schroder to replace Lowry. The win-now Lakers would be happy to get a proven winner like Lowry. Both teams would be glad not to lose a star point guard for nothing.
BUDDY HIELD TRADE
This is a trade that really makes sense for both the Lakers and the Kings and should be at the top of the list for both teams. Kuzma enjoyed his best season playing for Luke Walton and should be a perfect fit starting at power forward for the Kings. Harrelll would also be a great fit for Sacramento backing up Richaun Holmes, assuming they re-sign him.
For the Lakers, Buddy is the high volume, high percentage 3-point shooter they need to upgrade shooting guard and hlep modernize the Lakers 3-point attack. With Halliburton’s ascent, Hield is too expensive to come off the bench for the Kings.
https://twitter.com/LakerTom/status/1411730514034130947
RUSSELL WESTBROOK TRADE
Call me crazy but if there is a legitimate superstars out there for whom the Lakers could actually trade, it might be Russell Westbrook. Like CP3, pundits had written off Russ last year as being an albatross contract and a player who couldn’t win.
While I’m not a fan of Russ’ 3-point shooting and often question his shot selection and ball security, there’s no denying that he still has a lot in the tank and the idea of adding a triple-double machine like Westbrook to James and Davis is intoxicating.
The move would hard cap the Lakers and cause them to rely on vet minimum players for the rest of the roster but it would also give them a legitimate Superstar Big Three to challenge the Brooklyn Nets. The team that wins the championship next season will be a team with three genuine superstars.
Wait, wait, wait. We can do the deal for Westy, but not Dame??
Dame has to want out and it seems unlikely Portland would want to trade him in-conference.
GRAHAM AND MONK TRADE
This is another trade that makes a lot of sense for both teams. The Hornets have a surplus of guards and need forwards and centers. They showed interest in both Kuzma and Harrell last season.
While Charlotte has cap space, they will be looking to sign a center to replace Cody Zeller. Meanwhile, with the emergence of LaMelo Ball, they can move Terry Rozier to shooting guard and thus can trade both Devonte Graham and Malik Monk.
Graham would be the perfect point guard for a Lakers team with LeBron James. Devonte hiet 3.3 of 8.7 threes per game at 37.5% and Malik hit 2.0 of 5.1 for 40.1%. That’s exactly the kind of high volume, high percentage 3-point shooting the Lakers need.
One of the fascinating things that could easily happen this summer is a lot of teams hanging onto their trading chips waiting to see if Dame or Beal or Kawhi will really become available. There may be a chance for the Lakers to pull off a surprise deal for a second tier star like Lowry, Hield, Porzingis, Rozier, ior Walker because competing teams may not want to wait for bigger fish. That could benefit the Lakers if they push hard for a couple of deals.
Rob could certainly call up Masai and see if he were uinterested in a Schdoder-Lowry Double S&T? Or Sqcramento about a Kuzma for Buddy Trade, Washington about a Westbrook trade, or Charlotte about a Graham and Monk trade? The teams the Lakers will be competing with for these players are likely to be teams targeting bigger fish. This is why it doesn’t matter that other teams could make better offers for these players. The Lakers just have to have best offer made.
Soooo can we do 2 separate S&T’s? We can if we bring back a player under contract in at least one, I believe…
Each S&T deal has to stand on its own. There is no limit for how many S&T deals you can do. If any of the deals have a free agent coming to the Lakers in a S&T, then we are hard capped. Sending out free agents via S&T deals have no penalty.
So basically we can bring 1 player in via S&T and then we’re hard capped.