Los Angeles Lakers: Five reasons 2018-19 season was a loss
By Ethan Temkin
They traded away young talent in Ivica Zubac/Svi Mykhialiuk for ZERO future assets.
In the same vein of failing to retain valuable assets in the offseason, the Lakers also traded away two young talents in Ivica Zubac and Svi Mykhailiuk in a vain attempt to make improvements at the trade deadline.
Zubac was traded to the Clippers for Mike Muscala and Svi was traded to the Pistons for Reggie Bullock. Both moves were the product of an effort to bring more shooting to the roster, something that could’ve been done prior to the start of the season.
Zubac was set to hit restricted free agency this summer and by all accounts, wouldn’t have commanded a large contract, and Svi was in year one of his three-year rookie-scaled contract.
On the flip-side, Muscala and Bullock more than likely won’t be returning for the 2019-2020 season so the trade basically amounted to the Lakers giving away two potentially valuable assets under team control for a three-month rental of non-impact players
Add on to the fact that the Lakers received nothing in the way of draft picks for either player, and this trade looks worse and worse the more we look back on it. Not to mention the fact that Zubac was traded to a team that the Lakers were directly competing with for a playoff spot!
Just to be clear, I’m not saying Zubac was going to become the next Marc Gasol or Svi, the next Klay Thompson, but it’s the idea of trading young talent, for next to nothing in return is what makes me have an issue with these trades.