The Lakers Trade Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram, Michael Beasley, and Lance Stephenson to the Wizards for Bradley Beal
Advantages:
1. Just like in the Kemba Walker trade idea, the Lakers would be trading four players who are not All-Stars for an All-Star in Bradley Beal. Beal’s number’s this year are very good: 25 PPG, 5 APG, and 5 RPG. It’s very difficult to find a player who can put up those types of stats.
2. Bradley Beal’s 6-foot, 5-inches and although he’s never been considered a good defensive player, he has the height and the athleticism to play Luke’s switch-heavy defensive scheme. With LeBron James inspiring Beal to play hard on defense and with three very good defensive centers, Ivica Zubac, JaVale McGee and Tyson Chandler, manning the middle behind Beal, he could turn into a very good defensive guard.
3. A starting rotation of Rondo, Beal, James, Kuzma, and Chandler would almost certainly guarantee that the Lakers make the 2nd round of the playoffs, and they’d have a good chance of making it to the Western Conference Finals. Any time a team has the chance to make a deep run in the playoffs, they should take it, right?
Disadvantages:
1. According to www.basketball-reference.com’s player similarity scores, Beal is most similar to Ben Gordon, Flynn Robinson, Vinny Del Negro, and Frankie Brian. Really? Should the Lakers trade away Lonzo and Ingram for a guy who plays like Ben Gordon or Vinny Del Negro? I don’t know about that.
2. This year Beal is only hitting 35 percent of his 3-pointers. Beal is different than Walker in that almost all his 3-point makes are assisted (78 percent of Beal’s 3-pointers are assisted), so he hasn’t actually been a knockdown outside shooter this year. In fact this year he hasn’t been much better than Lonzo Ball from behind the arc.
3. If the Lakers trade two of their best young players for Bradley Beal, they’re stuck with a core of Beal, LeBron, Kuzma, and Hart for at least the next two years. The Lakers wouldn’t have enough cap space to add Durant, Kawhi, or any other max free agent over the summer.
That is not a championship caliber team, especially if father-time starts to catch up with LeBron over the next two seasons. Should the Lakers gut their roster to get into the playoffs only to lose in the Western Conference Finals?