Los Angeles Lakers land Anthony Davis, so what’s next?
The Los Angeles Lakers and the New Orleans Pelicans finally agreed to terms on an Anthony Davis to LA deal before the 2019 NBA Draft.
The Lakers sent Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram, Josh Hart, the 4th pick in the draft, additional future first round picks and Pelicans have the right to swap future draft picks with the Lakers. That’s quite the haul for the 26-year-old superstar, but one I anticipated.
Before the weekend, I wrote that I’d been given an exclusive report that the Lakers and the Pelicans had a deal in place that would look much like the deal that was agreed upon. Though, instead of the Lakers dealing Kyle Kuzma, they added in a couple of future first round picks, which at the very most is equivalent to Kyle Kuzma’s value.
The past few months have been devastating for Lakers’ fans with their beloved team being the laughing stock of the league. Acquiring Davis in a trade seemed to be the Lakers’ only hope and fortunately, it worked out. The Lakers gave up great value but received a treasure in Anthony Davis. Lakers Nation should feel stoked that their Lakers look like the new team to beat and were able to retain one of their key young core players in Kyle Kuzma.
What comes next from the Lakers will be interesting. There are only five guys officially under contract with the team for this upcoming season in LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Kyle Kuzma, Moritz Wagner and Isaac Bonga.
Marc Stein of the New York Times reported that the Lakers will now focus heavily on trying to sign Kemba Walker. Just hours later, the Athletic reported that Kyrie Irving has been and continues to have a significant interest in teaming up with Anthony Davis.
This news comes as a nice surprise for Lakers’ fans since most believed Kyrie Irving to Brooklyn was going to happen. The Nets are still the favorites to land Irving. However, after the Anthony Davis trade, changes in Irving’s destination preference may follow.
Anthony Davis to Los Angeles was the first huge offseason domino to fall and there are many more still to come. The Lakers have the most powerful frontcourt in the league now, so they’ll likely be focused on signing guards to fit in with the refurbished Lakers.
The Lakers have a plethora of options to choose from to fill out the roster. In order of most beneficial to least, here are the top guards in free agency that the Lakers should target.