The Los Angeles Lakers are going to do anything they can to improve the team after the most disappointing season in franchise history and that includes Rob Pelinka surveying the trade market for someone who can make an impact in LA.
While the Lakers are limited in what they can do financially, there are quite a few directions the team can go. Our FanSided sister site, Sir Charles in Charge, broke down five realistic trade targets for LA to consider to help LeBron James next season.
As we often do here at Lake Show Life with articles like this around the Lakers, we are going to play a game of pass or pursue to give our insight on each of these proposed targets.
Should the Los Angeles Lakers pass or pursue Eric Gordon?
The first realistic trade target named by author Michael Saenz is Houston’s Eric Gordon. Gordon, 33, has two more years left under contract and carries a cap hit of $19.5 million next season. He is an experienced veteran who knows what it takes to make a playoff run and offers three-point shooting that every contender is seemingly looking for.
Gordon shot 41.2% from beyond the arc last season in 5.3 attempts per game. He averaged 29.3 minutes per game, scoring 13.4 points with 2.7 assists and 2.0 rebounds.
While Gordon is a big name with playoff experience, he is not someone who the Los Angeles Lakers should be targeting. The first hurdle is his salary. The Lakers are already strapped for cash and to make this happen the team would have to trade Talen Horton-Tucker, Kendrick Nunn AND another contract just to make it work financially.
Add that to the fact that Gordon is an undersized two-guard at six-three who does not play defense and he does not make sense for LA. The Lakers already had role players who could shoot threes but didn’t play defense last season. Why significantly hurt the depth of an already thin roster to get someone who offers the same thing that Carmelo Anthony does for 10 times the price?
Verdict: Pass