The Los Angeles Lakers are looking to improve in any way this season after the disappointing start to the year. With some momentum currently behind them, it makes a lot of sense for the front office to pursue any possible upgrades that could carry this momentum throughout the season.
One potential upgrade is in Kendrick Nunn, who is yet to make his Lakers debut this season. The Lakers signed Nunn to a Taxpayer’s Mid-Level Exception in the offseason and he was viewed as one of the best value signings in the league.
While Nunn’s return would seemingly be promising, the Lakers might be able to improve more if they trade him for another asset. With Malik Monk’s emergence and strong play from both Talen Horton-Tucker and Austin Reaves, you could make the case that the Lakers don’t need Nunn in this rotation.
If the Los Angeles Lakers believe that then they should absolutely trade Kendrick Nunn.
Like we did with the Talen Horton-Tucker article earlier this season, our friends over at Lakers Legacy (the official Los Angeles Lakers podcast of the FanSided network) put together several potential trade packages for Nunn and discussed it.
We are going to break down those potential trade packages in this article and give our take. Would the Lakers do it? Would the other team do it? How would the Lakers look after the trade? You get the point.
Let’s dive into the six potential trade packages for Kendrick Nunn.
First potential Kendrick Nunn trade for the Los Angeles Lakers:
The first potential Kendrick Nunn trade sees the Los Angeles Lakers jumping onto the Indiana Pacers’ likely firesale and doing a one-for-one swap between Nunn and Torrey Craig. The salaries of the two players are virtually identical and the Lakers might even be able to get a second-round pick out of this deal.
This is absolutely a trade that the Pacers would make. In Nunn, the Pacers would be taking a flier on a young player that is on a cheap deal. While he does have a player option after this season, him being hurt for half of this season is not going to increase his free-agent value from last offseason.
The best-case scenario for the Pacers is Nunn playing well and opting into his contract for next season. The Pacers could then flip him to a contending team for some kind of future asset either in the offseason or during next season.
For the Lakers, they are receiving a wing defender with a ton of playoff experience that knows what it takes to be in the rotation of a playoff-contending team.
However, I am not sure the Lakers would jump on this deal unless they had serious doubts in Nunn. Craig has not been playing very well this season and while he could absolutely improve defensively and offensively in LA, the Lakers might just be better off hoping Nunn can produce more.
Second potential Kendrick Nunn trade for the Los Angeles Lakers:
We might as well stick on the Indiana Pacers while we are here. There is another player that the Los Angeles Lakers could try and trade for in Jeremy Lamb. There are also the bigger name players, such as Caris LeVert, but that would have to include Talen Horton-Tucker, not Kendrick Nunn.
In theory, Jeremy Lamb would offer the same things to the Los Angeles Lakers that Torrey Craig would. However, the Lakers could be more confident in him playing well than they could Craig. Not only is he playing better this season (albeit still not to his full potential) but he also has a higher ceiling.
This trade also opens up two roster spots for the Los Angeles Lakers to make other additions. The team is reportedly looking to trade both Jordan and Bazemore and this would open up those roster spots to use. It would not save money like it would with the Rondo trade, but this is a billion-dollar franchise that can afford the small tax hit.
The Pacers would probably do this trade as well. Lamb does not have that much value on the trade market and it is hard to see another team coming over the top of this trade, as low as the offer is. The Lakers probably would have to throw in a second-round pick, but this is where the conversation starts.
If the Lakers are confident they don’t need Nunn (which they probably don’t) then I like this deal for both sides.
Third potential Kendrick Nunn trade for the Los Angeles Lakers:
Okay, this is the last time we are going to talk about a potential trade with the Indiana Pacers. I know this is a lot of Pacers talk but the Pacers are probably going to be the biggest sellers of the trade deadline and all the players mentioned in these three packages are likely to be traded.
This is another one-for-one swap like the first trade for Torrey Craig but it is a better deal. Justin Holiday offers more to the Los Angeles Lakers and is quite frankly, a better player than Torrey Craig.
Holiday has more scoring potential and has a really high defensive ceiling with his length if he is used in the right system. Frank Vogel is a talented defensive head coach and the things he can do with Holiday and Talen Horton-Tucker on the court together are really exciting.
Holiday is having a down year shooting the basketball but he is someone who can shoot around 40%. This is good for the Lakers as it is decreasing his trade value and making this deal possible. With no other deals on the table, the Pacers would absolutely take this trade.
There is also a fun scenario in which the Los Angeles Lakers could combine all three of these trades together. Instead of trading for Lamb, the Lakers could try and package Nunn, Jordan and Bazemore with a future second-round pick for Craig and Holiday.
Fourth potential Kendrick Nunn trade for the Los Angeles Lakers:
This is a really interesting example of two teams who were perceived to be contenders before the season swapping assets that are near identical value but help each team more than the asset that they are trading.
Kendrick Nunn and Dorian Finney-Smith are on the same playing field when it comes to their value in the grand scheme of the NBA. Nunn absolutely has more long-term potential and a higher ceiling than Finney-Smith but the Lakers are not concerned with that long-term potential.
The Lakers would be flipping Nunn for a wing that plays solid defense, can space the floor as an off-ball shooter and still even drive to the rim if needed. There is a lot of potential with Finney-Smith both in small-ball and big-ball lineups. He fits either mold, which is extremely valuable.
Meanwhile, the Mavericks would get a secondary ball-handler that can not only take some of the load off of Luka Doncic but can also create his own offense off the bench. Dallas ranks 15th in the league in bench points per game and 22nd in bench three-point shooting and Nunn could really help that problem.
Dallas would probably get a future second-round pick in this trade even though Nunn has the higher ceiling because of the uncertainty of Nunn with him not yet playing this season. However, this is a trade that does benefit both sides on paper.
Fifth potential Kendrick Nunn trade for the Los Angeles Lakers:
This is a very similar package to the one with the Dallas Mavericks, just with different players being exchanged. Like the Mavericks (and Lakers), the New York Knicks are off to a disappointing start this season that currently has them in the play-in tournament.
While Kemba Walker has had some moments for the Knicks, it is safe to say that he has not been what the Knicks were hoping for this season.
Derrick Rose has also missed significant time with an ankle injury and he will most likely be out of action until at least March. This is a Knicks team that has really missed what Rose brought off the bench and Nunn could help replace that in the meantime.
Noel is certainly tradeable for the Knicks as well. While they would be trading a multi-year investment in Noel for Nunn, it is still a trade that would raise the ceiling of these Knicks.
The Lakers, meanwhile, would essentially flip Jordan for Noel and give the team a new center to give minutes to in the rotation. Noel would become the team’s top center, taking Dwight Howard’s minutes in the rotation.
This could open some doors for the team to go big with Noel and not sacrifice much defensively. The defensive potential with Noel and Anthony Davis in the frontcourt is fun. However, when it comes to overall impact on the team, Nunn probably has a much bigger impact on LA than Noel would.
Sixth potential Kendrick Nunn trade for the Los Angeles Lakers:
The Los Angeles Lakers already traded a point guard to the Cleveland Cavaliers as they traded Rajon Rondo to the Cavs essentially for a roster spot. The Cavaliers wanted to trade for Rondo after Ricky Rubio suffered a season-ending injury as the team was missing that point guard presence.
While it is a sensical no-risk flier for the Cavaliers to make, there is a pretty good chance that Rondo is not able to fill the shoes that Rubio left behind. Rondo was playing pretty poorly for the Lakers and at this point of his career, it is hard to see him turning it on in Cleveland.
If Rondo does not work out then this is a trade that could happen close to the NBA trade deadline. If Nunn returns and it is clear that the Lakers don’t necessarily need him in the rotation then they could look to also flip him to Cleveland for a better asset this time that would be in the rotation.
That asset is Cedi Osman, who would fit perfectly on the Lakers. He would give the Lakers a three and D wing that could play in crunch time lineups because he is not a zero on either side of the floor. He might not be an amazing three-point shooter or defender, but he is certainly capable in both areas.
This trade would be fantastic for the Lakers but I am not sure if it is something that the Cavaliers would do. Osman is playing over 20 minutes in the Cavaliers’ rotation and the Cavs have something good going. If Rondo is not working out, I think the Cavs just take their medicine and hope playoff Rondo shows up.