The Los Angeles Lakers missed out on a Kyle Lowry trade
The Toronto Raptors were shopping Kyle Lowry at the NBA trade deadline last season and the Los Angeles Lakers were in the mix. The Lakers appeared to be the favorites to land the all-star guard but at the end of the day, the Lakers rejected the Raptors’ proposal.
The Raptors wanted Talen Horton-Tucker in the package. The Lakers said no, and fittingly enough, now they are shopping him for worse players, like Buddy Hield. THT’s value isn’t as high as the Lakers thought and it is clear that they missed the window to trade him for max value.
Here is what the deal could have looked like, based on the reports we were hearing last season.
Jovan Buha and Bill Oram of The Athletic reported that the Lakers were offering Dennis Schroder, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and draft picks in return for Kyle Lowry. All the Lakers needed to do was add Talen Horton-Tucker and this is probably a done deal! Heck, throw in a pick swap in a future year if you have to because, in hindsight, it is clear that the Lakers would not be trading all that much away.
The Raptors only had half a season left of Lowry and this is much better than the team got after the season in the sign-and-trade with the Miami Heat. Plus, it is not like the Raptors were in a place to contend, so based on what we know, they would have likely said yes to this package.
Lowry then would have played out the rest of the season in LA and would have re-signed with the team. Lowry signed a three-year, $90 million contract with the Heat in the sign-and-trade. If the Lakers just traded for him at the deadline they would have had the leverage as they would have had his Bird Rights. A team like the Heat couldn’t afford Lowry unless it was a sign and trade!
Lowry would have been a Laker for multiple years and it would have led to multiple titles. First, let’s break down how Lowry could have changed last season.