The Los Angeles Lakers are going to look to improve in any way they can this season. However, the problem for the Lakers is that plenty of contending teams are going to have the exact same M-O as the trade deadline approaches. Most contending teams have much more to trade than the Lakers as well.
One of those teams is the Atlanta Hawks, who like the Lakers, have been extremely disappointing this season. After making it all the way to the Eastern Conference Finals last season the Hawks have started the 2021-22 season with a 16-20 record, which puts them in 12th place in the Eastern Conference.
The Hawks are obviously still in striking range to make the playoffs and they have the talent to take off once they get there, especially if they add that extra piece. According to Sam Amick of The Athletic, that is exactly what the Hawks are looking to do as they are looking for a possible two-for-one swap at the deadline with Cam Reddish and Danilo Gallinari as the two potential trade pieces.
Those two pieces are certainly enough to trade for someone who the Lakers might be interested in.
If these Cam Reddish rumors are true, the Lakers will lose out on Jerami Grant.
The trade is extremely easy to put together for the Hawks and the Pistons. To make the money work, the Hawks would trade Gallinari and Reddish while the Pistons would trade Grant and an expiring contract that does not have much value, such as Rodney McGruder. The Hawks would probably have to throw in some draft capital as well but that is not a problem.
The Hawks have not traded any of their future first-round picks and have a top-14 protected Oklahoma City Thunder pick. The protections on that pick will eventually run out so the Hawks want to keep that pick. However, that makes it easier to trade their own first-round pick, as well as the slew of additional second-round picks that they have.
Reddish is a recent lottery pick with potential and Gallinari is a throwaway contract that the Pistons could look to flip in the future to a contender for even more assets. A recent lottery pick with a first-round pick and other picks also thrown in is a pretty good price for Jerami Grant.
It is certainly better than what the Lakers can offer. The Lakers can offer Talen Horton-Tucker, Kendrick Nunn and an expiring for Grant. They could also throw in a future pick swap years into the future but that is not as valuable as a pick in the next year or two.
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If the Hawks want Grant and are willing to trade this package for him then he will undoubtedly not be a Laker. This package alone is much better than what the Lakers can offer and that is not even considering whatever another team might come over the top with.