The Los Angeles Lakers have struggled out of the gate this season and that has led to many fans hitting the drawing board to try and figure out how this team can improve. When looking at potential trades, there is only one player the team can realistically trade of value: Talen Horton-Tucker.
Earlier this week we broke down why the Lakers are not going to trade THT this season. However, desperate teams do crazy things and we never would have expected them to trade for Russell Westbrook in the offseason. Nothing can be fully ruled out, even if it does not seem to make a ton of sense.
The guys over at the Lakers Legacy Podcast, the official Lakers podcast of the FanSided Podcast Network, put together seven potential THT trades if the Lakers were to make a trade this season. In a bit of a collaboration, I am going to break the seven trades down and give my verdict on the possibility of it happening.
Seven trade packages for the Los Angeles Lakers and Talen Horton-Tucker:
1. Talen Horton-Tucker, Kendrick Nunn and a contract for Harrison Barnes
The first potential trade package includes a division rival, the Sacramento Kings. In this package, the Lakers attempt to flip the future asset in THT to a rebuilding team for the current asset in Harrison Barnes, who has been playing exceptionally well the last two seasons.
On paper this makes sense and this is a trade type that we have seen multiple times. The money works out, as Barnes is making just over $20 million this season. The Lakers could package THT, Kendrick Nunn and Avery Bradley to make the money work.
The Lakers should jump at this if it was offered as Barnes is under contract for another season. However, the Kings likely would not say yes for three reasons.
First, the Kings are already really guard heavy and THT might not be as appealing to them. Second, the Kings can probably get a better package from a contending team that also includes draft capital. Third, the Kings don’t like doing business with the Lakers. While a Buddy Hield deal almost happened, the two teams have not made a trade since 1977.
Verdict: Not possible.