If the Lakers want to seriously compete for a championship, they need to trade Malik Beasley, Mo Bamba, and 2029 first round pick to the Pacers for Myles Turner and bring back their core rotation from last season’s roster.
That would give the Lakers a proven 12-man roster with 9 rotation players from last season’s ‘post-trade deadline’ roster, including James, Davis, Reaves, Russell, Vanderbilt, Christie, Walker, Hachimura, and Schroder. Besides trading for 6′ 11″ center Myles Turner, the Lakers would use their #17 pick in the first round for 6’11” Duke center Dereck Lively II and their #47 pick in the second round for 6′ 7″ Kentucky forward Chris Livingston.
The Lakers’ goal this offseason is not only to build a championship team but also to be in position two years from now to be the premier landing spot to attract an NBA superstar to replace LeBron James when he’s likely to retire. The Lakers want to do a better job making the transition from the LeBron James era than they did moving on from the Magic Johnson or Kobe Bryant eras, which were followed by years of bad rosters and losing seasons.
Pelinka has already said the Lakers were going to try to bring back the core of the team that surprised everybody by being the fourth best in the league after the trade deadline and making it all the way to the conference finals. The challenge will be to accomplish that without crossing the threshold of the league’s new draconian second luxury tax, which starts when a team’s payroll exceeds $186.5 million, which will become the NBA’s real hard cap.
Let’s look at what the Lakers would have to give up to trade for Turner, what they’re likely to do in the draft, how they’re going to bring back their core, and what their starting lineup and rotation would look like after the trade.
1. Lakers Trade With Pacers For Myles Turner
The Lakers have long coveted Indiana center Myles Turner and came close to trading for him before the start of last season before backing out at the last minute. The timing for pursuing Turner now appears to be perfect.
The Lakers need to get bigger, younger, and better defensively and easiest way to accomplish that is to trade for the Pacers’ 27-year old 6′ 11″ center Myles Turner and move LeBron James and Anthony Davis down a position. Turner is the crown Rob Pelinka needs to add to the masterful makeover of the Lakers’ roster he pulled off last trade deadline. He and a pair of stud rookies in Lively and Livingston are the final pieces to the Lakers’ puzzle.
When the Lakers and the Pacers discussed trading Turner last summer, Indiana wanted one first round pick for taking on Westbrook’s contract and one for Myles Turner with protection on the two picks a big sticking point. The trade was always about Turner for draft capital with any Lakers players simply being salary filler. Realistically, the Lakers are going to have to make their 2029 first round pick unprotected for the Pacers to make trade.
Trading for a starting center like Myles Turner would allow Anthony Davis and LeBron James to move down a position, have positional size advantage, and reduce physicality and avoid injury by playing against smaller players. With Turner replacing Vanderbilt, the Lakers starting lineup is suddenly dramatically better at both ends of the court. Turner adds both horizontal and vertical spacing on offense and is one of the league’s top shot blockers.
Finally, trading Beasley and Bamba for Turner will save the Lakers $5.8 million in annual salaries, which not only allows the Lakers to bring back almost everybody from last year but also to avoid the NBA’s new luxury tax.
2. Lakers Turn to Klutch Sports for 2023 Draft
The silver lining of this season is the Lakers ending up with the #17 and #47 picks in what should be an excellent draft class. Look for the Lakers to lean heavily on their long alliance with Klutch Sports when making their picks.
The Lakers’ biggest two roster priorities are finding an athletic center who can play defense and protect the rim and a legitimate bigger 3&D wing who can guard the bigger wing scorers who dominate the Western Conference. Fortunately for the Lakers, Rich Paul and Klutch Sports have two clients in the upcoming 2023 NBA Draft in 6′ 11″ Duke center Dereck Lively II and 6′ 7″ 3&D wing Chris Livingston who would be excellent fits on their roster.
Lively has been projected to be drafted by the Lakers at #17 in several mock drafts while Livingston worked out for Los Angeles right after Klutch Sports Pro Day last week. Both are elite athletes who provide depth and upside. The Lakers as a team want to get younger, bigger, and better defensively. They got a great start when Pelinka remade the roster at the trade deadline and now Rob has an opportunity to finish the job with a killer NBA draft.
The Lakers’ scouting department has shown great ability to find talent late in the first round, second round, or undrafted. If they can land Dereck Lively II and Chris Livingston, they would deserve a draft grade of A+.
3. Lakers Bring Back Core of Last Year’s Team
The Los Angeles Lakers currently have 4 players still under contract in James, Davis, Vanderbilt, and Christie and 5 players whom they would like to bring back in Reaves, Hachimura, Russell, Schroder, and Walker.
The above salary cap projection show the Lakers re-signing restricted free agents Reaves and Hachimura to long-term contracts and unrestricted free agents Russell, Walker, and Schroder using Bird, Early Bird, and TPMLE.
Re-signing those 5 players would then mean the Lakers were returning 9 of 15 players from the roster that made it to the conference finals last year, which would give them better continuity heading into next season.
By saving $5.8 million in annual salary in the Myles Turner trade, the Lakers were able to keep their total salaries under the NBA’s $186.5 million second luxury tax threshold and avoid its multiple draconian competitive penalties. There’s no question the NBA’s new second luxury tax is essentially going to establish $186.5 million as the league’s ‘de facto’ hard cap because the penalties for exceeding the threshold greatly impact competitiveness.
By adding Turner and two draft picks to their core rotation from last year, the Lakers are projected to spend $185 million in salaries and pay $47 million in luxury taxes for a total annual payroll expense of $232 million. With three open roster spots for veteran players as insurance or younger players with upside, the Lakers have an opportunity to start next season with the best and deepest roster they’ve had in the LeBron and AD era.
This summer is the second phase of Rob Pelinka’s master class in extreme roster makeover. This summer’s trade for Turner and great draft should finally win Rob Pelinka his overdue trophy as NBA Executive of the Year.
4. Lakers Projected Championship Rotation
Almost every player on the Lakers expressed a desire to see what this team could have done if they had had a training camp and full season to play together, get to know each other, and build some chemistry and rapport.
Imagine bringing back the 9 best players from last season and adding Myles Turner and 2 promising draft picks to that roster. That might be the best 12-player roster in the NBA before you even add two or three more players. The Lakers’ starting lineup of Russell, Reaves, James, Davis, and Turner would be the biggest and baddest defensive team in the league and a bench of Schroder, Walker, Vanderbilt, Hachimura, and Lively would dominate.
This roster would also allow Lakers head coach Darvin Ham to play a deep and diverse 10-man rotation that could dramatically reduce their reliance on and workloads of overworked superstars LeBron James and Anthony Davis. The Lakers know the smartest way to keep their two superstars healthy is to reduce their minutes and workloads and surround them with players who will make their jobs easier and the team far more dangerous.
Ultimately, the Lakers’ roster goal to become younger, bigger, and better defensively will not only pay off by winning more NBA championships but also by making the Lakers the ideal landing spot for LeBron’s replacement. Successfully navigating the transition from LeBron James is right now a bigger challenge for the Lakers than winning next season. As always, the Lakers are trying to have their cake and eat it too. They just might do it.
Rob Pelinka has a great opportunity this summer to transform the Lakers into a championship team by bringing back the core rotation from last season, adding center Myles Turner, and drafting two Klutch Sports clients.
DJ2KB24 says
That’s an idea! Would like to swap out DLO though.
LakerTom says
Lakers can consider trading him at the deadline but they’re not going to get anything for him now and they need a point guard and, if he will take less, which he will, then he will be re-signed.
LakerTom says
https://twitter.com/LakerTom/status/1662891570369282048
LakerTom says
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LakerTom says
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LakerTom says
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LakerTom says
Trading for Myles Turner is all about making life easier for LeBron James and Anthony Davis by surrounding them with younger, bigger, and better defensive players.
Defense wins championships. This is also Lakers doubling down on going big and protecting the rim. Davis and Turner would put a lid on the basket from inside the paint. Turner would allow Davis to be the ultimate roamer on defense. And the dollars fit under new second lux tax threshold.
Best team you can build and still not break new “hard cap.”
Jamie Sweet says
Love this idea and could see it working out…finally…for both teams. Even better, see if you can make it a draft day deal which would give Indy the option on both players.
LakerTom says
Pending free agents
Players whose contracts will expire on June 30 can’t be traded prior to that date. Beginning in July, they can be moved in sign-and-trade deals, but those are rare. Once a free agent officially signs a new contract, he is ineligible to be traded until at least December 15, and perhaps even later than that if he meets certain criteria.
Player with options
Players who have team or player options can’t be traded before those option decisions are made. In other words, a club can’t acquire a player with a team option in June, then decline that option before the end of the month as a way to create cap room.
However, a player who has an option year on his contract technically can be traded, either before or after the new league year begins. As part of the deal though, his option would need to be exercised.
https://www.hoopsrumors.com/2019/06/nba-offseason-trade-restrictions-2.html
Jamie Sweet says
Gotcha.
Jamie Sweet says
So, if Indy kept them o. The roster we could trade them in draft day.
LakerTom says
It’s eerie how the numbers work out after trading for Turner to avoid the second luxury tax threshold. If he made a couple of million more, the numbers wouldn’t work. Can’t trade for a free agent center like Lopez we’d be hardcapped. Turner is the perfect player and the unprotected 2029 FRP should be the golden ticket to pry him from the Indiana Pacers.
Jamie Sweet says
I was thinking trade for Turner a couple days ago. For Indy this trade makes sense because both players fit into what they’re doing and allows them to explore a Heild trade w/o losing the elite shooter. They know how to get the most out of a guy like Bamba, too.
Jamie Sweet says
Lol, you do love to toss that ‘master class’ phrase around lightly, tho. Too funny…
LakerTom says
LOL. Call it whatever you want, Rob did conduct a masterclass in rebuilding a roster. Luck always has a big part in it and oddly, when you look at the results, it was the Rui trade and rise of Reaves that really changed the dynamic, And some good minutes from DLo and Lonnie to be honest.
Oddly, in retrospect, it was the Westbrook trade that we’re still not satisfied with. Beasley and Bamba and the 2029 unprotected FRP for Turner seems like a win-win for both teams. Frankly, Rob and Darvin have been making all the right moves and there’s a history of the Lakers coveting Turner so it’s not a crazy and wild idea. It has roots so I would not be surprised if we see Rob pursue it.
I definitely think we need to be able to go big even if we decided to keep AD playing the five. I’m hoping Pelinka also sees that going big would help us defensively and reduce wear-and-tear on our two fragile superstars.
MongoSlade says
As always….fails to look at this from the other side. An easy web search told me all I needed to know about why the Pacers are highly unlikely to do this. Has alot to do with them re-doing his contract a few months ago and their plans going forward.
I REALLY don’t feel like doing this for the next 8 months….smdh
Jamie Sweet says
Have to agree with this logic, might be we end doing a Russ 2.0 in that we end up keeping both guys to be used later in the year. Especially since now that Rob popped his “in-season trade” cherry. Seems more likely we trade for a guy like Randle, Collins or DeRozan. But the $$$ works well, might be accomplished w/an over-pay in draft picks.
therealhtj says
Man, I wish this dude would just retire. Myles Turner will never be a Laker. Indy won’t give him up for anything less than a king’s ransom. They were doing pretty well until Halliburton got hurt. They’ve got a plucky second-round team there, which for Indy may as well be a championship contender.
LakerTom says
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LakerTom says
148,300 VIEWS ON TWITTER!
LakerTom says
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