Los Angeles Lakers: Players who benefited most from Anthony Davis trade

De’Andre Hunter

The Los Angeles Lakers also traded the rights to their first-round pick last year, the #4 pick overall, in the Davis transaction. The Pelicans directed the Lakers to use it to select small forward Hunter, and in turn swapped him to the Hawks.

Hunter had a solid rookie year for Atlanta, averaging 12 points and 4.5 rebounds per game. He shot only 41% overall, but 35.5% from deep. He became a full-time starter and played 32 minutes a game for the Hawks,

The primary benefit of the trade for him was that he likely would have been buried on the Lakers bench and wouldn’t have gotten nearly as much playing time had they not traded him.

It’s tough to quantify the benefit of the trade for a rookie but let’s give him a grade of 3.

Others:

The Los Angeles Lakers gave up a bundle of future draft picks in the AD trade. No benefit can be assigned to any of them yet. But New Orleans insisted that the deal had to be finalized at a time that was most advantageous to them for salary cap reasons.

That meant the timing was not favorable for the Lakers, and in order to clear cap space to fill their roster, they were forced to also trade Mo Wagner and Isaac Bonga.

Mo Wagner

He had an uneven rookie season with the Lakers, in large part because injuries forced him to miss a chunk of time. He ended up playing in about half the games, averaging 5 points and 2 rebounds per game in 10 minutes of playing time.

This season with the Wizards, injuries struck again and he played in just 37 of the team’s first 64 games. But in just about double the court time (19 minutes a game) he raised his averages to 9.5 points and 5.2 rebounds. His shooting percentages also increased significantly, especially from three-point range, where he went from 29% with LA to 34% with Washington.

It’s tough to know what role Mo might have played had he remained with the Lakers. But his career most likely was pushed forward more prominently following the trade.

Wagner’s benefit from the trade grades out as 4.

Isaac Bonga

Picking him with the 39th pick of the 2019 draft was admittedly a stretch for the Lakers. Although he was physically gifted, management also knew he was raw, a project who wouldn’t contribute much at first.

He spent virtually the entire rookie season in the G League, making cameo appearances in 22 NBA games, almost all during garbage time. In just 5.5 minutes, his averaged only 1 point, 1 rebound and nearly 1 assist per game.

Bonga has played a much larger than expected role in Washington, where he appeared in 58 games and started 41 times. His averages of 4.6 points and 3.2 rebounds aren’t especially impressive but aren’t too bad for just 18 minutes per game.

He plays excellent defense but shooting was supposed to be his weakness. Yet he connected on 52% of his field-goal tries and quite surprisingly 40% of his threes, although he averaged only one attempt per game.

Bonga wouldn’t have gotten nearly as many minutes and certainly wouldn’t have started had he remained in LA. He clearly benefited from the trade with a grade of 4.

In conclusion,

In the final analysis, the trade a win-win for both teams.  The addition of Davis vaulted the Los Angeles Lakers back into NBA title consideration, and the package of players New Orleans received in return has given them a bright future.

But the trade was also beneficial for all players involved. AD maintained his game at the highest level while each of the other six elevated his game to new heights. All should be significant NBA contributors for years to come.