Los Angeles Lakers: 2 trades to get the Lakers into the lottery

2. A three-team trade with the New Orleans Pelicans and the Chicago Bulls

There is a lot to break down in this trade but I do think that all three parties would benefit from this deal, especially if the Los Angeles Lakers love a prospect late in the lottery that they absolutely have to select.

Lonzo Ball and Kyle Kuzma would reunite on the Chicago Bulls as part of this three-team trade. Let’s start there.

The Bulls should absolutely be interested in doing a trade like this. Chicago would essentially flip one high draft pick for the former second-overall pick as well as a breakout first-rounder. Both are young and both can be locked down for mutliple years for Chicago to actually start building something.

The team should pursue young talent but they need young talent that is already established in the league. That is what Ball and Kuzma provide and to get both for the fourth overall pick would be a fair trade, especially in this draft class. The Bulls also get to free up some money by trading Thaddeus Young.

The Pelicans or Lakers could throw in some future second-round picks as well, just to sweeten the deal.

For New Orleans, they get to move up from the 13th overall pick to the fourth overall pick for Lonzo Ball. Right now, the trade rumors are leaning more towards the team trading Jrue Holiday, but I would not rule out the team trading Ball and if they love someone atop this board then I absolutely could see them making this trade up.

Ball alone is probably not enough for the fourth overall pick so they call the Lakers, have them add Kuzma into the trade and in return, the Lakers get the 13th pick in the draft. New Orleans rightfully gets the 28th pick in the first round.

Some fans might be against the idea of trading Kuzma for draft capital but he is easily replaceable by the likes of Markieff Morris and even Danilo Gallinari, so the team should be aggressive if they like someone in the lottery.