Could the Los Angeles Lakers trading for Myles Turner resolve the ongoing internal conflicts caused by head coach Frank Vogel wanting to play two bigs and superstar center Anthony Davis prefering to play power forward?
While the Lakers initially committed to moving Davis to the five to make the trade for Westbrook work, unexpected early season injuries and Vogel’s stubborn reluctance to play small ball have so far undermined the decision. Frank’s always been true believer that defense starts with rim protection, which is why his first instincts are always to go big rather than small, despite the Lakers having protected the rim better when playing small than big.
While Anthony Davis is better playing center than power forward, let’s examine whether the Lakers could be better if they were to trade for Turner so AD could play his preferred four and Vogel his preferred two bigs.
What Are the Pros and Cons of a Turner and Davis Twin Towers?
Trading for Myles Turner and starting him at center could be a franchise defining move that would stabilize, diversify, and upgrade the Lakers’ front court and make them championship contenders for the next five years.
Aside from enabling Vogel to play two bigs and Davis to play the four, Turner at the five would immediately give the Lakers the defensive rim protector and offensive floor spacer they’ve been trying to acquire the last three years. Adding the 25-year old Turner’s league third best 2.7 blocks per game and 41.2% 3-point shooting on over five threes per game would transform the Lakers’ defense and offense for this season and the foreseeable future.
Suddenly, the Lakers would have their own version of a twin towers front court with the 25-year old Turner and the 28-year old Davis who could put a lid on the basket defensively while still being able to play five-out offensively. Starting Turner at the five would enable Davis to limit his minutes and avoid the banging of playing center and let James focus on playing point forward and becoming the elite 3&D wing the Lakers have desperately needed.
The Lakers’ roster right now badly needs bigs who can protect the paint and stretch the floor like Myles Turner instead of low post traditional centers like DeAndre Jordan and Dwight Howard who can be played off the court.
Will Turner Be Available and Do the Lakers Have Enough Assets?
The Lakers have long coveted Myles Turner as the perfect defensive rim protector and offensive floor stretcher. The upcoming trade deadline may be the perfect opportunity for the Lakers to make a mega trade for Turner.
The Indiana Pacers are off to a 3–7 start under returning head coach Rick Carlisle, which makes them 13th out of 15 teams in the Eastern Conference, still struggling with the difficult on-court fit between Sabonis and Turner. While Carlisle was brought in to make the Pacers’ two 7-foot 250 pound centers work, he’s already started to stagger Turner’s and Sabonis’ time on the floor to avoid those troublesome, inefficient twin towers lineups.
Unless something changes before the trade deadline, the Pacers are almost guaranteed to look to move Turner since Sabonis is the franchise player. With strong interest in Turner, could the Lakers make a competitive offer? The answer is the Lakers could and should go all-in for Myles Turner. The Lakers should offer Talen Horton-Tucker ($10M/Year), Kendrick Nunn ($5M/Year), and Malik Monk ($2.6M/Year) for Myles Turner ($18M/Year).
Next to LeBron James, Myles Turner is the best possible fit next to Anthony Davis in the league today. He is the perfect front court mate to play next to AD and lead the Lakers to championships for the next five years.
How Would Turner Trade Impact Lakers’ Championship Quest?
Trading for Myles Turner is the Lakers’ guaranteed ticket to a championship. He not only makes the Lakers a juggernaut offensively and defensively but also saves wear-and-tear on injury prone LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
Myles Turner could have a bigger impact on the Lakers’ championship hopes than Russell Westbrook because he helps solve some of the serious floor spacing and perimeter defensive problems caused by the trade for Russ. Integrating Turner would be child’s play compared to integrating Westbrook. Myles’ 41% 3-point shooting will help the Lakers’ starting lineup spacing while his 2.7 blocks per game will help their perimeter defense.
While the Lakers would give up the 20-year Horton-Tucker, the 26-year old Nunn, and the 23-year old Monk, they would be getting the durable 25-year old Myles Turner, who has averaged 65 games over his six-year pro career. While giving up a home grown star like THT is painful, he’s still two or three years away from being a starter and Nunn and Monk don’t have Bird rights so there is no realistic way the Lakers would be able to keep them.
What it comes down to is the Lakers would be trading the tomorrow of 20-year old Talen Horton-Tucker for the today and tomorrow of 25-year old Myles Turner and an improved chance to win their 18th championship.
Watching LeBron James and Anthony Davis playing the four and five has always been my perfect roster goal for the Lakers. However, I’m starting to wonder whether this is a smart way for LA to go considering LeBron’s age and AD’s tendency to get injured.
Then there’s also Frank Vogel’s stubborn obsession with playing two bigs and Anthony’s preference for playing the four, not to mention LeBron’s recent preference for shooting the three. While I want both of them playing closer to the rim, getting Frank to play shooters to spread the floor may be problematic.
At any rate, I’m starting to think the solution to this dilemma is for the Lakers to trade for Myles Turner, who will surely be moved by the Pacers at the trade deadline. In a recent article, here were the three trades suggested for Myles Turner in a Clutch Sports article:
3) San Antonio Spurs
Spurs receive: Myles Turner
Pacers receive: Thaddeus Young, Tre Jones, Spurs’ 2022 first-round draft pick and Spurs’ 2024 second-round draft pick
2) Dallas Mavericks
Mavericks receive: Myles Turner
Pacers receive: Dwight Powell, Dorian Finney-Smith, Josh Green and Mavericks’ 2025 first-round draft pick
1) Oklahoma City Thunder
Thunder receive: Myles Turner
Pacers receive: Isaiah Roby, Theo Maledon and Phoenix Suns’ 2022 first-round draft pick
I think an offer of Talen Horton-Tucker, Kendrick Nunn, and Malik Monk would easily trump any of these three offers. The Lakers could include DeAndre Jordan if the Pacers want a back up center or a future first round pick if that is an issue.
At any rate, trading for Myles and starting him at the five with AD at the four and LeBron at the three would stablize the Lakers front court with a 25-year old center in Turner and 28-year old power forward in Davis. Lakers would then have the perfect front court to go small or play two bigs.
More importantly, the Lakers would have two young centers who were elite rim protectors and floor stretchers. The Turner trade would be the final move to make the Westbrook trade work because the Lakers would have the spacing to unleash Russ on offense and the rim protection to cover his lapses on defense.
This is now my top priority for the Lakers 2021-22 season. Frank wants two bigs. AD wants to play the four. LeBron wants to shoot the three. Turner helps resolve all of these issues and could transform the Lakers into a younger and more powerful juggernaut of a team at both ends of the court.
Aloha Tom, I’m sorry but that would be terrible for the team. It’s painfully clear so far that the Lakers need more guys not named LeBron that create offense. Your trade sends all 3 of those guys on the team away. It’s clear that we need a better defender than Bazemore for the smaller quick guards in the league. Nunn is the one guy on the team capable of doing that but your trade sends him away. We need more wing defenders. THT is a wing defender but he’s gone. And these moves elevate a clearly washed Rondo into the back up point guard spot. I think once we actually are healthy we will see AD playing most of his minutes at center. He actually is, even though he’s not starting.
Thanks for reading and commenting, Michael. We’ll have to disagree. Adding Turner solves so many problems that it’s unquestionably a massive upgrade to our rim protection and floor spacing as well as a big help keeping LeBron and AD healthy.
I don’t have your faith that Nunn can be our starter at the 2 because he is too small and not a good defender. I also doubt that THT can be the starter because he is not a good enough 3-point shooter. Finally, I think Monk has already shown that he is a liability on defense.
Bottom line, THT is not ready to start and Nunn and Monk don’t have Bird rights so are only rentals and will leave for free agency this summer. Better to cash them in now. There is no trade the Lakers can make that will have the positive impact on the Lakers’ championship hopes or LeBron and AD’s health than Myles Turner.
Dang LT, ya working waaaaay to hard on that trade, lol!
Turner is going to be traded and the team that gets him will become a contender. Lakers would be pressed to have enough to trade for him, especially if THT makes himself untradeable. But adding Myles still makes a world of sense when you consider what Frank, LeBron, and Anthony prefer to play.
Honestly I don’t think our paint defense is as bad as it looks. it’s mostly because we’re getting blown by on the perimeter, back door cuts for easy buckets when the big gets pulled out of the paint on a switch and things like that. Lakers a re a top 10 in blocks team, we’re doing a decent job at the rim. Leak outs, bad perimeter D and things of that nature are what’s sinking the ship.
Not sure there’s a single player that can repair this issue, honestly. We’re old and a lot of the guys are on minimum deals. This is untenable situation magnified by injuries.