1. Swapping Anthony Davis for Rudy Gobert
There is a good chance that the Utah Jazz blow things up this summer, especially if they fall in the first round to the Dallas Mavericks. The duo of Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert simply has not been able to get it done and there is no reason to believe that it is going to change.
If the Jazz do blow up the roster in the offseason then Gobert would definitely be the first player that the team shops. Mitchell is the more impactful player for the Jazz and the front office would definitely look to keep him happy first and foremost.
While the Lakers do have a potential trade package that makes sense with the Jazz if they blow it up, it is not a trade package for Rudy Gobert. If Utah wanted Russell Westbrook for Gobert (joking) then great! But Davis for Gobert is absurd.
Anthony Davis is an objectively better big man than Rudy Gobert and going from Davis to Gobert would be a significant downgrade. The Lakers have floor-spacing issues last season and those would only be amplified with Gobert on the floor at the five.
Teams expose Gobert in the playoffs every single year and I would take Davis’s injury concerns over that every day of the week. Of course the Utah Jazz would want to make this trade but the Lakers would be better off trading Davis for young players and draft capital than trading him for Gobert.
Verdict: Pass