Los Angeles Lakers: 2 veterans to stay away from at the trade deadline

2. P.J. Tucker (in a trade)

The Los Angeles Lakers should only target P.J. Tucker as a buyout option

P.J. Tucker is one of the biggest names on the trade market and it seems like a matter of time before he moves teams. The Los Angeles Lakers have reportedly inquired about trading for Tucker and might be forced to do so with other teams also being interested.

While I broke down a Tucker trade before and broke down why the Lakers might do it, it really is not worth it. Not only do the Lakers not have the non-guaranteed contract of Quinn Cook to make the deal work financially, but the Lakers would be getting thinner for such a small increase from Morris to Tucker.

The one spin zone for this, which was the main reason why I liked the deal back then, was that it would free up a roster spot in order to bring in DeMarcus Cousins. That is not happening so it makes more sense for the Lakers to simply wait for Tucker to be bought out.

If he is bought out then the Lakers should sign him. He is a better defender than Markieff Morris and adds a nice veteran impact off the bench. The Lakers’ wings are not as deep as they seem and Tucker would add some help there.

And as we saw with Morris last season, all it takes is a veteran role player to get hot in the NBA Playoffs. Morris did that last season and became one of the most impactful buyout players of all-time.

But a trade does not make sense at this point in time, especially as the Lakers wait for Andre Drummond to potentially be bought out.