Do you agree that the Los Angeles Lakers should be targeting Jeremy Lin in a trade?
The Los Angeles Lakers re-shaped their roster this offseason. Los Angeles has an excellent young core that they added to this offseason.
The crown jewel of the Lakers offseason was the addition of LeBron James. After that, they added a number of veterans to fill out the roster. Magic Johnson and Rob Pelinka had a plan in place to add playmakers around James and that is exactly what they did.
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope was re-signed, followed by JaVale McGee, Lance Stephenson, Rajon Rondo and Michael Beasley. All four veterans bring something to the table that Magic and Pelinka wanted on the team.
With the new additions, the Lakers should be playoff contenders. If everything clicks, they could challenge for homecourt advantage in the Western Conference playoffs. Los Angeles didn’t add the second star they were hoping to this offseason, but 2019 provides them another opportunity to do so.
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The front office has done an excellent job creating cap space and flexibility. They should be players in free agency again next offseason and would guarantee that with one move: trading Luol Deng.
Johnson and Pelinka were stuck with some albatross contracts. Magic offloaded one, Timofey Mozgov, prior to the 2017 NBA Draft. Doing the same with Deng has proven to be a difficult task. However, with a recent article, Bleacher Report has come up with a way for the Lakers to rid themselves of Deng’s contract.
In the article, a player was selected for each team to target in a trade. Jeremy Lin was the player that was selected to be targeted for the Lakers.
Here is part of what they had to say about the selection of Lin.
"The return isn’t as important as the outgoing piece, which is Luol Deng in this case.If the Lakers can get his $18.8 million off the books for 2019-20, the second-biggest financial obligation for the summer of 2019 (after LeBron James’ $37.4 million) is Lonzo Ball‘s $8.7 million cap hold. That flexibility should diminish if/when the Lakers add Kawhi Leonard in free agency, but more free cap space is better than less."
Offloading Deng’s contract is the key part of any deal that the Lakers make. Lin is an expiring deal, so they would clear the money necessary to add a second star in free agency. However, what the cost of sending Deng away is something that will have to be considered.
The Atlanta Hawks aren’t just going to take Deng for nothing. To take on the added salary, the Hawks would ask for some sort of asset in return. A first-round draft pick is usually the going rate for a salary dump. Los Angeles should avoid trading a player such as they did with D’Angelo Russell in the Mozgov deal.
Lin spent one year previously with the Lakers, so he understands the pressure of playing in Los Angeles. Given the current landscape of the roster, Lin wouldn’t have a clear role.
The Lakers have a deep depth chart, but Lin could provide a scoring punch from the backcourt. Lonzo Ball and Rondo are facilitators, while Josh Hart and Caldwell-Pope are more of 3-and-D players. Lin would provide a different dynamic to their backcourt if need be.
Or, the Lakers could just hold onto Lin and allow his contract to expire, giving them the cap space they desire.
Whatever they choose to do, getting out from under Deng’s contract is the biggest win in this theoretical deal. If the Lakers are able to find a taker for Deng, it is another win for Magic Johnson and Rob Pelinka.