The Los Angeles Lakers are naturally going to be buyers at the NBA Trade Deadline if the right opportunity exists. Rob Pelinka knows that this team should look to improve at every turn it can and that includes the trade deadline.
The Lakers’ hands are tied in the sense that they cannot make any big moves, but they can make moves for some lesser names and contract figures. One of the possible options could be Detroit’s Wayne Ellington.
Ellington is in the last year of his contract and on the last-place Detroit Pistons he is naturally someone who the team is going to look to sell to a contender — the Lakers potentially being one of them.
While it may seem like a great fit to some, there are pros and cons of potentially pursuing Ellington via trade that have to be weighed. With that in mind, here are the reasons for and against the Los Angeles Lakers pursuing Wayne Ellington via trade.
Reason for: The Los Angeles Lakers can easily trade for his contract
Half of the trade battle in the NBA is simply having contracts that can be matched in order to make the trade financially possible. That is why we won’t see the Lakers in the market for someone such as JJ Redick — the salary is simply too high.
That is not a problem whatsoever with Ellington. Ellington is making just $2.5 million this season, a figure that could easily be obtainable by the Lakers. The Lakers can start a trade around Alfonzo McKinnie and Quinn Cook.
Those two are obviously not great assets for Detroit, but the Lakers could then build that up with future second-round picks and perhaps talented youth in Devontae Cacok. It would be similar to when the team flipped Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk to Detroit for half a season of Reggie Bullock. Same idea, except perhaps with more names involved to make it work.
Reason against: Wayne Ellington is not a good defender
You can get by with having a few poor defenders on a roster. Not every player is going to be elite defensively and as long as said player is in the right scheme where he is not getting exposed then it will be just fine.
However, the Lakers are a team with a defensive-identity and don’t really have any poor defenders. Montrezl Harrell and Kyle Kuzma certainly have their flaws, but they are not as bad as Ellington is on the defensive end.
This seemingly makes it easier to pursue Ellington as he would have so many great defenders around him. The problem is, though, that the Lakers have made it a point that they value good defensive players and Ellington just is not that.
For that reason, the Lakers could pass on Ellington altogether.
How bad is Ellington on the defensive end? Thus far this season, he has posted a -1.7 Defensive Box Plus/Minus this season and has never posted a positive DPBM throughout his career. For comparison’s sake, the worst DBPM for a rotation player on the Lakers this season is Kyle Kuzma at -0.9.
Reason for: Wayne Ellington is a fantastic three-point shooter
This is why he is naturally going to be on every contending team’s radar. Wayne Ellington is a fantastic three-point shooter and he is one that any contending team could add at the deadline for relatively cheap.
As you may or may not know, three-point shooting has taken over the NBA. And while the Los Angeles Lakers are not as three-point heavy as some of their contending counterparts, they certainly will not turn down the opportunity to add more three-point shooting to the bench.
Ellington is shooting 44.5% from beyond the arc this season and he is certainly taking his fair share of three-point attempts. Ellington is averaging 6.3 threes attempted per game.
He is a career 38.1% shooter from beyond the arc and has not posted a single-season percentage under 37% since the 2015-2016 season. He is red-hot right now and is going to be rather consistent even if he cools down.
While Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Alex Caruso are off to hot starts shooting the basketball, there is no guarantee that will last. It never hurts to add more shooting to the bench and that is exactly what the Lakers would be doing with Ellington.
The only problem is that they are not going to be the only team potentially looking to do that.
Reason against: The Los Angeles Lakers would be one of many teams in on Wayne Ellington
If you took Economics 101 in high school then you know the number one determinant of market price is supply and demand. If you have a lot of supply and no demand then prices are cheap. If you have no supply but a lot of demand then prices are steep.
The supply of cheap three-point shooters at the deadline is not prominent. The demand to add three-point shooting to the bench is prominent for any contending team. Realistically, there should be 10 teams or so checking in on Ellington at the deadline.
That is a lot of demand for one player that is going to raise his price. The Los Angeles Lakers already don’t have the best offer in the world and the last thing the team can really afford to do is get in a bidding war with young talent and future picks.
Don’t get me wrong: Ellington is not going to be worth that much and every team will have a line that they are not willing to cross. But with so many teams potentially being interested there are so many other young players that could excite Detroit.
If you are the Pistons would you rather have a late first-round or second-round pick that has some NBA experience already or would you rather have a G League guy with very limited NBA experience? Exactly.
The Lakers are definitely not giving up Kyle Kuzma or Talen Horton-Tucker (I feel gross for even writing that), so the chances of them getting outbid are fairly high.
The Los Angeles Lakers should check in on Wayne Ellington as a potential backup option for the Detroit Pistons
So what does this mean?
Rob Pelinka and the Los Angeles Lakers should do their due diligence and check in on the status of Ellington and let there be known that there is some interest there. However, the Lakers should not be actively pursuing Ellington and simply should be keeping their name in the loop in case the Pistons cannot find another trade partner.
The Lakers simply don’t have to get in a mini bidding war for Wayne Ellington as he would not add a completely new dynamic to the team. Sure, his three-point shooting is red-hot, but the Lakers have capable shooters that can take turns making baskets when the time deems fit.
If the Lakers were a high-volume three-point shooting team then it would make more sense. They have plenty of guys to give them the number of threes that the Lakers are looking to take and make in a game.
And his defense would limit his role in the NBA Playoffs. He may get 10 or so minutes but that would really be the ceiling as you cannot over-rely on one-way players in the NBA Playoffs.
Depth is great, but it is not worth paying a premium price for when you do not need it as much as some other teams.