2. Kyle Kuzma
The player that could probably net the biggest return for the Lakers in a trade would be Kyle Kuzma. He still has room to improve his game and has proven he can light it up as a scorer on any given night.
A recent Shams Charania report for The Athletic stated that teams around the league are interested in Kuzma, yet the Lakers want to keep him.
That same report suggested that they were seeking at least a first-round pick and a rotational piece if they were to trade the young forward.
Then a conflicting report came from Sam Amick, who also writes for The Athletic, that said the Lakers were listening to offers for Kuzma and doing their due diligence. Either way, it seems like teams around the league are interested in Kuzma, and if the Lakers truly want to receive a starting caliber player in a deadline deal it would probably have to include Kuzma.
Even more rumors came out after that were reported by Marc Stein, that linked the Sacramento Kings and Bogdan Bogdanović to a deal for Kuzma. This made some sense because of how Kuzma flourished in Luke Walton‘s system in the two seasons he played for him.
Bogdanovic would be considered an upgrade for Kuzma, but those same trade rumors seemed to get shot down before they got started. Jason Jones that writes about the Kings for The Athletic, refuted the claim on twitter and said the Kings were comfortable with Bogdan becoming a restricted free agent after this season and had no plans to deal him.
More recent reports have also mentioned that Kyle Kuzma could be the centerpiece in a trade for Minnesota Timberwolves small forward Robert Covington. ESPN’s Bobby Marks recently mentioned in an article that the Lakers could move a package of Kuzma, Quinn Cook, and the injured DeMarcus Cousins to get Covington into their starting lineup.
The early returns from trading the other members of the young core have been tremendous, and maybe that same thinking goes into considering a trade for Kuzma. He is already 25 years old and may have reached his ceiling, but he has not had much time to get a chance to show he can be the third scorer on this team because of injuries this season.
The last thing the Lakers want to do right now is what they did at the deadline last season and make a terrible trade for a young asset, just to shake up the roster. Kuzma is still an ascending player on a low money contract and the Lakers are playing well, so moving on from him now might be premature unless they find the right deal.