Los Angeles Lakers: Two players most likely to be traded

Two players on the Los Angeles Lakers could be traded.

The Los Angeles Lakers and their fans continue to hope that the season will resume in time for the team to have an opportunity to capture the NBA title. In the meantime, fans and pundits debate what the team’s roster will and should look like for the 2020-21 season.

The nearly universal consensus is that Anthony Davis will return either by exercising his player option or signing a longer-term deal, whichever he believes will benefit him the most financially. If that happens, he will continue to form one of the league’s top one-two duos with LeBron James, who is already under contract for next season.

Danny Green, Kyle Kuzma, Alex Caruso and seldom-used rookie Talen Horton-Tucker are all signed through next year. In addition to AD, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Avery Bradley, JaVale McGee and Rajon Rondo all have player options that they are likely to exercise. If all do opt-in, that would bring the roster to 10 players.

As for the rest of this year’s team, Quinn Cook has a non-guaranteed contract while Dwight Howard, Markieff Morris, Dion Waiters, Jared Dudley and DeMarcus Cousins (who is currently off the roster) will all be unrestricted free agents. In addition, the Lakers will have a late first-round draft pick.

It won’t be easy for the team to make big roster changes. After all, if AD does indeed re-sign, the Lakers will be over the salary cap and will only be able to add veterans willing to accept minimum contracts.

Chances are good that the Lakers will re-sign Howard and/or Cousins, assuming Boogie sufficiently recovers from his torn Achilles and is physically able to contribute. Dudley is a great locker room presence who can be effective on the court for short stretches, so it’s possible he’ll be brought back as well.

Ordinarily, Morris would command a greater salary on the open market than the Lakers could pay, but not many teams will have money to spend, so it’s possible he’ll accept a one-year deal to return to LA. Waiters is talented but unpredictable and has yet to play a minute in a Lakers uniform, so all anyone can do is speculate whether he’ll be back.

The bottom line is that at least on the surface, it appears that next season’s roster will closely resemble this year’s. However, it is entirely possible that the team might try to change things around through a trade or two. If Rob Pelinka pursues that avenue, who are the current Lakers he is most likely to swap?

The absolute safest bet is that it won’t be either Davis or James. But they could sign-and-trade any of their free agents or move any of the other four signed players. A case could be made for moving just about anyone, but a potential trade would most likely involve one or both of two players, Rondo and/or Kuzma.

Opinions range more widely of about the roles and value to the team of the two of them than anyone else, so let’s take a closer look at each one.