NBA Trade Rumors: 10 Deadline Deals the Lakers Could Make
By Jacob Rude
There’s a couple assumptions to make in order for this deal to happen.
1. LA has to realize they aren’t going to hit a home run this summer and turn their focus to the summer of 2015, with Kevin Love and others.
2. Cleveland, under their new general, decide to blow up the team and start over (for the 1,000,000th time) and this deal gives them immediate cap relief. This especially helps their fantasy of going after LeBron James.
The deal was first proposed by Bill Simmons as Gasol for Anderson Varejao and Dion Waiters. However, that doesn’t work financially, which means they either need to bring in another team or a secondary contract. Earl Clark is a Laker reclamation project, a perfect stretch four for D’Antoni, and has struggled mightily in Cleveland.
CHANCES OF TRADE HAPPENING: 15%. This deal strips Cleveland of key assets. They already didn’t want to give up Waiters once, so it’s unlikely their stance changed a few weeks later.