3. The Los Angeles Lakers take a risk and go after Kemba Walker
Kemba Walker and the Boston Celtics reportedly want to end their relationship this offseason and the Celtics are not going to have many avenues to trade Walker. His contract is less than ideal with his knee issues and in most cases, the Celtics are probably going to have to package value with Walker to convince a team to trade for him.
That is why the Los Angeles Lakers make sense for Boston. The Lakers need to improve and do not have many avenues to do so with their financial situation. With LeBron getting older and the title window shrinking, the Lakers are much more likely to make a risky move.
This move is a risky one indeed.
The Lakers can utilize the Bird Rights they have on Dennis Schroder to sign him to a multi-year contract and flip that in a sign-and-trade to the Boston Celtics. Assuming Schroder’s new deal is in the $20-25 million per season range, this works financially.
This makes sense for Boston as they can get two assets for the price of one that can bolster the depth and are much easier to move. Kemba is not a good fit on this team and Boston can try and run it with Schroder and Kuzma as bench pieces and if it does not work out, it is much easier to move one player for $20 million than one player for over $30 million.
This is not great value for Kemba Walker and that is because of his contract and knee issues. It would understandably be a risk for the Lakers but a risk that could pay off. If Walker somehow found his Charlotte form then the Lakers would have a legitimate big three of all-stars.