The league has gone from a slow jog to a full sprint as the Feb. 6 NBA trade deadline approaches. Here are the latest rumors from around the Association.
While his coach and All-Star teammates were more subtle (passive-aggressive might be more accurate), Anthony Davis was direct in addressing the Lakers situation heading into the trade deadline in a sit-down with Shams Charania of ESPN.
“I think we need another big. I feel like I’ve always been at my best when I’ve been the 4, having a big out there.”
That comes after Lakers’ coach J.J. Redick was honest about the state of his team: “We don’t have a huge margin for error… We don’t have a guy on our team that’s going to necessarily always draw two to the ball. We don’t have a guy on our team that’s going to be able to get past his guy one-on-one and get to the paint and spread it out to the perimeter.”
LeBron James was on the same page: “That’s how our team is constructed. We don’t have room for error, for much error… We don’t have a choice. I mean… that’s the way our team is constructed. And we have to, we have to play close-to-perfect basketball.”
The Lakers played a close-to-perfect game against the Celtics Thursday night and blew out Boston, but they have not been able to consistently play that way (particularly on the road, where they are about to head for much of the next two weeks). The Los Angeles Lakers (24-18) are in the middle of a crowded West. They currently sit fifth in the conference but are just three games from falling to the No. 11 seed and missing the play-in altogether.
Which is why LeBron and Davis want action but “are growing concerned about the Lakers’ ability to make significant roster upgrades” according to another ESPN report.
As they should be, most of the buzz around the league has the Lakers making a smaller move on the margins, if any trades at all.
It’s all a pressure campaign, and it’s not hard to see why, with LeBron and Davis being on the back ends of their careers, they want action. The question remains: what trade is out there that pushes the Lakers up even a tier in the West to compete with Memphis, Denver, and Houston in the postseason? Would Walker Kessler really do that, and is he worth two first-rounders (the rumored asking price, and this is Danny Ainge we’re talking about) to get it done? The bigger issue is that these Lakers are more than one player away from contending.
This is more speculation than anything at this point, but it’s interesting: Lonzo Ball is on the Lakers’ “radar” for a possible reunion, something The Athletic’s Jovan Buha said on a recent podcast.
“I think Lonzo is someone that’s going to be on their radar, and I think depending on the price if you could get him for a second or two seconds, I think that’s an interesting swing, and also someone with that 6’6″ frame that could potentially I think be similar to Bruce Brown, check a couple boxes.”
I think Ball could be one of the steals of this trade deadline. After missing seasons with three knee surgeries, he’s back and playing quality two-way basketball right now. In his last five games, he’s averaged 9.2 points a game, shot 35.9% from 3, dished out 3.8 assists a night and been solid defensively. He’s going to be limited in minutes the rest of his career, but the Bruce Brown analogy is apt — a guy who can come in and make a difference for a team. Whether it’s the Lakers or someone else, whoever gets Ball and re-signs him (within reason) will have a steal of a deal.
You have to give up something to get something, but the Lakers do not want to give up Rui Hachimura in a trade, something Dan Woike of the Los Angeles Times said in a recent podcast.
“I spoke to a Lakers source about this where I was talking about a trade that involves Rui Hachimura going out in the trade and they’re like, ‘I don’t know, Rui’s pretty good.’”
The Lakers players — outside of Austin Reaves on a steal of a contract, and rookie Dalton Knecht — don’t have near as much trade value around the league as Lakers fans seem to think. What has value is their two first-round picks they can trade, but to get any player(s) of significance, the Lakers likely have to give up both. How much of the future is Lakers management willing to trade to bump up a tier now?
Milwaukee has figured itself out in the East and climbed to fourth in the conference. However, because of their highly competitive and impatient superstar, they are always on the lookout for trades—or at least want to give off the appearance that they are.
The Bucks are “open to exploring” a trade for a star such as Milwaukee’s Bradley Beal or Chicago’s Zach LaVine, but things are not far down the road, just exploratory, reports Sam Vecene at The Athletic. The Beal part of that has been shot down Beal’s agent and other reports, but the idea that Milwaukee would consider a bold trade makes sense.
Milwaukee would need to send out some combination of Khris Middleton, Bobby Portis and Pat Connaughton in any significant trade, and they are open to moving on from just Connaughton if it can get them below the second apron luxury tax line.
The Memphis Grizzlies sit third in the West in a bounceback season and are one of the bigger threats to Oklahoma City in the conference. Is it time to push all their chips into the middle of the table and go for it?
The Grizzlies are at least considering it, reports ESPN. That has them “lurking” around a Jimmy Butler trade — even through he said he doesn’t want to go there because they will not pay him his next contract — and other deals. As noted by ESPN, the Grizzlies have the trade assets to interest teams:
Memphis has the combination of draft capital and midtier salaries — players such as Marcus Smart ($20 million), Luke Kennard ($9 million) and John Konchar ($6 million) — to get deals done.
Maybe nothing comes of this, but its worth watching.
Consider this more of an update to stuff you already knew than breaking news, but the Bulls are still open to trading Zach LaVine and Nikola Vucevic, and have gotten calls on them, reports Shams Charania of ESPN.
There is a market for these guys, maybe just not as lucrative of one as the Bulls hoped. LaVine is having a bounceback season averaging 24 points, 4.8 rebounds and 4.5 assists a game while shooting 45.1% from 3.
However, LaVine wants to stay in Chicago, not be traded, Marc Stein reports. However, LaVine has little to no say in the matter, he is locked in with a contract, is playing well, and other teams are interested.
A lot of teams are looking for a center and Vucevic will bring points, averaging 20.1 points and 10.3 rebounds a game this season.
Lonzo Ball might be the Bull drawing the most interest of late, with the Warriors, Lakers and others having interest now that Ball has shown he is back from having three surgeries on the same knee.
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