The Los Angeles Lakers are going to be hard at work this summer trying to improve the team by any means necessary. This season has been a disaster for the Lakers and while it is not over yet, it seems more likely that the Lakers will miss the playoffs as part of the Play-In Tournament than it is they will win the title.
The Lakers are stuck in a bind with Russell Westbrook’s massive player option for next season and the massive inconvenience of having him on the roster. If the team cannot get off Westbrook then next season is going to be more than the same.
However, that should not stop the team from trying to improve in any way that they can and the best teams to call during the summer are fellow bad teams. Teams that are in the lottery are more likely to trade role players in the offseason, especially if the Lakers “buy” those role players with second-round picks.
Each lottery team has one player that the Los Angeles Lakers can call about.
To make things clear, we are only considering the teams that do not really have a shot at the NBA Play-In Tournament. That is every team below the 10th seed in the Eastern Conference as well as the 11th seed and below in the Western Conference (the Spurs could make a run).
Different potential trade targets have different parameters and with limited assets, not of these deals are going to be groundbreaking for the Los Angeles Lakers.