Los Angeles Lakers: 3 scenarios for the NBA Trade Deadline

The trade deadline is on February 7th, which means the Los Angeles Lakers only have a couple of more weeks to pull off a deal. What is the dream trade deadline for the Lakers? Here are three possible scenarios for the organization at the trade deadline.

Before examining what the Los Angeles Lakers should do before February 7th, let us look at a few facts about the purple and gold this season.

• The Lakers are 25-24, which puts them in 9th place in the West.
• According to www.basketball-reference.com’s playoff prediction tool, the most likely outcome for the Lakers this year is to finish with 41 wins and to miss the playoffs.
• LeBron James has missed 15 games, and counting, due to injury.
• Rajon Rondo has only played in 15 games this year, because of injuries and a suspension.
• Lonzo Ball has a Grade 3 ankle sprain and will be out at least 4-6 weeks.
• The Lakers have the 6th rated defense in the NBA.
• The Lakers are 29th in the NBA in free-throw percentage and 28th in 3-point percentage.

Now, let’s take a look at the three best trade deadline outcomes for the Lakers and see which one is perfect for the Purple and Gold.

The Lakers Trade Lonzo Ball and Josh Hart to the Hornets for Kemba Walker

Advantages:

1. The biggest advantage is also the most obvious. The Lakers would be trading two unproven young players in Hart and Ball for an NBA All-Star starter. The common thinking in the NBA is that it’s always good to trade non-All-Stars for an All-Star.

2. This would help shore up the Lakers atrocious 3-point shooting and free-throw shooting. Kemba’s only shooting 36 percent from beyond the arc this year, but that’s on nine attempts per game and many of those attempts have come off the dribble (only 46 percent of Walker’s 3-point makes have been assisted), which is one of the hardest shots in basketball to hit. He’s also hitting over 80 percent of his free throws.

3. Kemba Walker would give the Lakers one of the best point guards in the league and someone who can create for himself when defenses tighten up in the playoffs.

Disadvantages:

1. The Lakers have one of the best defenses in the league, due to the switch-heavy scheme that Luke Walton runs. The reason the Lakers are able to switch on every pick-and-roll is courtesy of the type of long athletic player’s that the purple and gold play. Kemba Walker is listed at 6 foot 1 inch, but that’s generous; most people say he’s under 6 feet tall.

He’s the type of defensive liability that teams will pick apart in the playoffs. Imagine Walker trying to defend Kevin Durant or James Harden on a switch during the playoffs. It’d be ugly and it would make Luke have to install a new type of defense mid-way through the season, which is not optimal.

2. If the Lakers traded two of their best young player’s for Walker, they’d be doing so with the intention of signing him to a max contract. That would put the Lakers out of the Kawhi Leonard and Durant sweepstakes this summer.

It might not be wise for the Lakers to trade away two good young players, for a guy who might end up giving away more points on defense than he scores on offense during the playoffs. Also, there’s no guarantee that Kemba signs a max contract with the Lakers over the summer, which would be a nightmare for Los Angeles.

3. If the Lakers called up Mitch Kupchak, the GM of the Hornets and offered Ball and Hart for Walker, Mitch would laugh for a moment and than shout, “Yes, yes, I’ll trade my point guard who probably won’t sign with me next year anyway, for two potential 1st team All-Defensive guards.

He’d continue on, “We probably won’t make the playoffs this year if we trade Kemba, but who cares it’s better than sneaking into the postseason as the 8th seed and then losing in four games to the Raptors or Bucks in the first round. Hey if we mini-tank the rest of the year we could even land Zion. Thanks for the trade Magic, I owe you one!”

Do the Lakers really want to make a trade that the Hornets would love that much? I don’t know.