The Los Angeles Lakers played the Sacramento Kings for a third time on Tuesday night and won the rubber match thanks to efforts from LeBron James and Malik Monk. While it feels good to get a win and win three in a row, there is still a bitter taste every time the Lakers play the Kings.
That bitter taste is the result of “what if” thinking as it pertains to Buddy Hield. The Lakers were in a true fork in the road moment in the offseason. It was reported that the team was going to trade for Buddy Hield, and even Kyle Kuzma thought he was going to Sacramento, but instead, the team traded for Russell Westbrook.
It all happened so quickly. Westbrook is the much bigger name and Hield does not have the same all-star ceiling as Westbrook, so it might not have seemed like that big of a difference at the time. However, Hield reminded Laker fans just how different things would have been if he was a Laker instead.
Hield thrived in this game, scoring 26 points on 8-18 shooting (7-13 from three) in 33 minutes off the bench. Luckily, the Lakers found a sharpshooter in Malik Monk to bring off the bench but this performance from Hield was just a reminder that he would have been an excellent third option behind LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
The Los Angeles Lakers would have been much better off with Buddy Hield instead of Russell Westbrook.
It has to do with so much more than just Hield’s play. We cannot talk about his positives without talking about his negatives. Hield is a really bad defensive player and while he can be in a crunch time lineup because of his shot, he becomes a possible liability on the defensive end.
However, it would have been much easier to mask that if the Lakers would have traded for him instead of Westbrook. The depth of the team would have been significantly better as the team would not have been as restricted as they were.
The initial trade was Kuzma and Montrezl Harrell (and probably the 22nd pick) for Hield. Because of the salaries, the Lakers would have been able to bring back Alex Caruso as well as retain Kentavious Caldwell-Pope.
It might not seem like a huge difference but those two players alone would do absolute wonders for this team’s depth right now, particularly on the defensive side of the basketball. Add in the solid signings from this offseason, such as Malik Monk and Carmelo Anthony (among others) and all the Lakers’ current problems with the team would have been solved.
Every time the Los Angeles Lakers play the Sacramento Kings it will be a reminder of what could have been; a Lakers team that actually is good enough to contend for the NBA Championship and is not restricted in what they can do.