3. Avery Bradley
Avery Bradley struggled in both Detroit and with the Clippers before he signed with the Lakers this offseason. Yet this season, he has looked very solid defensively when he has been available to play.
Too bad the key part of that last sentence is when he is available. He has been in and out of the line up with the Lakers since the beginning of this season, and the Lakers have gone 12-1 in the 13 games that Bradley missed due to injury.
That does not mean the Lakers are not better defensively with him on the court, but their record suggests that would be fine if he were dealt. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope has played surprisingly well this season in a similar role to Bradley, and Alex Caruso has also shown that he can be a disruptive defender at the point guard position, further diminishing the need for Bradley on the roster.
The Lakers might be better suited if they could deal Bradley for a bigger defender to guard wings. They could also use more of a scoring punch off of the bench or another play maker to take some pressure off of the LeBron James, and Bradley is only averaging 8.0 points and 1.2 assists per game.
Yet, unlike some of the other players that find their way on this list, Bradley is not on here because he has played worse than expected this season. He actually has proven that he can still be the lock down defender that he was early in his career in Boston, and maybe that could be enough to entice another team to give something of value back to the Lakers in a trade for him.