How the Los Angeles Lakers could benefit from a James Harden trade
By Jason Reed
While James Harden definitely won’t be traded to the Los Angeles Lakers, a James Harden trade will benefit the purple and gold.
The Los Angeles Lakers, along with the rest of the NBA, are gearing up for the regular season to get underway on December 22. This was the quickest offseason in American sports history (literally) and a lot happened, but there is still a lot that didn’t.
The biggest anticipated move that has not yet come to fruition is a potential James Harden trade. Harden expressed his frustration with Houston and demanded a trade, first trying to find his way to the Brooklyn Nets.
That fell through and the list was the expanded to the Milwuakee Bucks, Miami Heat and Phiadelphia 76ers. The 76ers trade has the most legs and seemingly makes the most sense on paper, but nothing has come about.
The most recent reports indicate that the Rockets are now looking at teams beyond Harden’s preferred list to execute a trade with. It does not seem like a matter of if, but simply a matter of when Harden might be traded.
The Los Angeles Lakers are absolutely not in the market for James Harden. There is no possible way that could even happen for the Lakers.
However, that does not mean that the Lakers won’t benefit from a potential Harden trade, whenever it may happen. Here are the two ways that LA would benefit from James Harden being traded.