The Los Angeles Lakers are going to be active this offseason in improving the team in any way possible. One idea that fans have been talking about this offseason is the possibility of the purple and gold trading away Anthony Davis.
While Davis is one of the most talented players in the league, he has been unable to stay healthy for the Lakers and that has directly been a big reason why the Lakers have fallen short in each of the last two seasons.
If the team has legitimate concerns about Davis’s health as he gets older then you cannot blame them for at least shopping him and seeing what they could get on the open market. Getting another elite big with a slightly lower ceiling but more durability would be the best-case scenario but the best-case scenario rarely happens.
Greg Swartz of Bleacher Report recently put together one new trade package for all 30 teams in the NBA and he came up with a trade package that would see the Lakers get a promising young big man in return.
The trade package is as followed:
Does this Anthony Davis trade make sense for the Los Angeles Lakers?
While John Collins is a promising young forward that has some untapped potential, the Lakers would certainly be getting the short end of the stick in this trade. Collins may have untapped potential as a big in the league but he is never going to be up to the level that Davis is currently at in the league.
If the Lakers were in a different position and this was the best trade offer that the team got for Davis then making this kind of trade would not be the worst thing in the world. However, the Lakers are still clinging onto the small championship window they have and trading AD for this package right now does not make sense.
The Lakers have to get a star player in return and it has to be someone who they think can be the second-best player on a title-winning team. Collins simply is not that as he is the second-best player on a team that couldn’t make it out of the first round this season.
Yes, from a value standpoint Anthony Davis is probably worth less now than he ever has been in his career but that does not mean that the Lakers would ever take an offer like this. Los Angeles is much better off just taking the chance and hoping that Davis can simply stay healthy next season and beyond.
The only conceivable reality in which the Lakers would entertain a trade like this is if the team traded LeBron James and committed to the rebuild, which honestly, might be the best thing the Lakers could do in the long term if they cannot trade Russell Westbrook.
However, we know Jeanie Buss is never going to commit to doing that.