Los Angeles Lakers: 3 potential trades to make with the Indiana Pacers

3. The Los Angeles Lakers make a cheap deal for Torrey Craig

If the Los Angeles Lakers have other plans and simply want to pawn off a cheap asset from the Indiana Pacers then the move might just be to trade for Torrey Craig. Craig was named as one of the uber-cheap defensive trade targets that the Lakers should target and as you can see by this package, he is pretty cheap.

The Lakers are only throwing two players into this deal to make the money work as Craig is making $4.6 million this season. What is great about his contract, though, is that it is also signed for the 2021-22 season. That is great news for the Lakers as it not only locks in a roster spot of next season but gives them a potential tradeable contract to package into a bigger future deal next offseason.

Craig is not an elite defender but in the right system with the right coach he can be well above-average and add that defensive presence on the perimeter that the Lakers are currently looking for. He is not as gifted offensively as Holiday and might not make the closing lineup but he can still give the Lakers 18-20 minutes of solid defense off the bench.

The Lakers are not losing anything in the two players they ae trading in this deal, in fact, they are gaining more than just Craig. Bazemore has been one of the worst players in the league this season while Bradley is on a non-guaranteed contract and was probably going to be cut the second a good buyout guy hit the market.

This opens up the roster spot for the Lakers to sign a buyout player without having to cut Bradley, which does not really matter but is at least good for Bradley. However, the Pacers would probably just cut him to save money, anyway.

Throw in a second-round pick for a small role player that Indiana does not even want and this is an easy, and cheap, trade for both sides to agree to.