3 Klutch Sports clients the Los Angeles Lakers can trade for this summer
By Jason Reed
1. Eric Bledsoe
Eric Bledsoe was traded to the Portland Trail Blazers from the Los Angeles Clippers in the Robert Covington trade and he did not play a single game in Portland. Bledsoe is entering the last year of his deal and his contract is not to the point that he will need to be bought out. The Blazers could definitely deal him and get value.
The value is not going to be that high and the Lakers can get Bledsoe for a moderate price. A trade consisting of Talen Horton-Tucker and a future second-round pick is more than enough for Bledsoe. Some Laker fans may reject that idea with high hopes for THT but remember, he had virtually no trade value at the deadline.
Despite that, the Lakers might get away with just trading THT and not the second-round pick. Bledsoe is definitely a gettable asset for the Lakers this summer.
At his best, the Lakers would be hoping that Bledsoe can essentially be a better version of what THT was for the Lakers this past season. He is not someone who is going to rain down threes but can score a tad as an off-ball shooter. More importantly, the hope would be that he can play plus defense and add a veteran presence to the perimeter.
He is not the same Eric Bledsoe that he was five years ago but he can absolutely offer value in the right situation. Heck, as recently as the 2019-20 season he posted a 1.8 Box Plus/Minus with the Bucks. That would have been third on the Lakers behind only LeBron James and Anthony Davis last season.
He is still only 32 as well, it is not like he is 35.