Pass or pursue on proposed Richaun Holmes trade for Lakers

The Los Angeles Lakers are undoubtedly going to be active this offseason as the front office looks to replace the roster enough to rebound from an extremely disappointing season. Trading Russell Westbrook is probably the best way the team can improve but there are other moves the team can make.

Most of those moves involve Talen Horton-Tucker, who is the only young asset the Lakers have on the roster who also has a movable contract. With THT not taking a huge leap last season and only having two years under contract at most, the Lakers may punt on the potential that could take as long as 4-5 years to develop and trade him for help now.

The problem for the Lakers is that his trade value is not very high. Los Angeles reportedly shopped THT at the deadline and it became clear that Horton-Tucker did not have much trade value to other teams.

Los Angeles is not going to get any exciting names in a THT trade. Greg Patuto of NBA Analysis Network recently theorized a trade for Richaun Holmes, who is exactly the kind of player the Lakers could get for Horton-Tucker. The trade is as followed:

Even though the Kings hardly do business with the Lakers, this trade does make sense from their standpoint. Sacramento traded for Domantas Sabonis during the NBA trade deadline and would be better off flipping a big like Holmes for guard depth in Horton-Tucker.

But does this trade make sense for the Los Angeles Lakers?

The money works and is not something that would hinder the Lakers much as Holmes is only making $1 million more than THT is making next season. That being said, while the Lakers cannot get much for THT at this point in time, they still do not need a player like Holmes.

Los Angeles is not going to get many offers for players of higher caliber but if the Lakers were to trade THT they would be much better off getting a wing rather than a center who really would not add much to the team.

What would Holmes bring to the Lakers? Well, quite frankly, he would be a slightly worse version of Montrezl Harrell, who did not pan out in Los Angeles. Harrell is shorter and is not as good of a rebounder but their offensive capabilities are similar as well as their defensive holes.

The Lakers would be getting a traditional center who is nothing special in scoring the basketball and actually was a negative on the defensive end last season. While THT was not great, there is at least potential there that he will get better next season. Holmes is who he is in this point of his career and he would fit the team horribly.

The floor spacing is already a mess with Anthony Davis and Russell Westbrook sharing the court and adding Holmes, who has no range whatsoever, would only make that worse.

Traditional centers are so cheap nowadays and the Lakers can legitimately get someone who is just as impactful as Holmes in free agency for the veteran minimum. Why trade an asset for something that is easily obtainable on the market? Especially considering that Holmes is significantly overpaid for what he brings to the table.

Richaun Holmes is the last type of player that Rob Pelinka should be looking to add this offseason.

Verdict: Pursue