The Los Angeles Lakers might not be in the Kevin Durant trade sweepstakes but they still absolutely impact the Lakers moving forward. Los Angeles is currently in the midst of trying to trade for Kyrie Irving and that will not happen until Durant is dealt first.
While Durant being traded ultimately helps the Lakers, there are teams the LA certainly does not want to see Durant go to. The Phoenix Suns were one of those teams and thankfully they are no longer in play after Indiana gave Deandre Ayton the max offer sheet. Another nightmare team is the Golden State Warriors, especially for LeBron James.
When creating the list of teams that the Lakers should want Durant to be traded to, it has to only include the Eastern Conference. Then, we have to consider teams that actually want to and have the means to trade for Durant.
With how things are shaping up right now, that essentially narrows it down to two potential destinations that the Lakers should root for. Of those two, there is one destination that is clearly better than the other.
The Los Angeles Lakers should wish that Kevin Durant gets traded to the Miami Heat.
The Miami Heat were on Kevin Durant’s trade request list and that is the team that the Lakers should be rooting for. Miami does have the means to bring in Durant as the team has draft capital and contracts to offer Brooklyn. Granted, the player return might not be great for the Nets but that is how NBA trades work nowadays.
The Heat could send the Nets a package of Tyler Herro, Duncan Robinson, Kyle Lowry and a lot of draft capital to get Durant in South Beach. Yes, the Heat would be sacrificing some depth, but they always pull NBA rotation players out of a hat.
This makes it where the Lakers will only have to potentially face Durant in the playoffs if he makes it to the NBA Finals. Outside of that, an improving Heat team does not restrict the Lakers from making a rnu in the Western Conference.
That being said, Miami was the top team in the East in the regular season last year and adding Durant would make them even scarier. Some Laker fans may prefer if Durant were to go to a team like the Toronto Raptors as they, in theory, would not be as good with Durant as the Heat would be.
While that is probably true, the Lakers would also have a huge issue if they were to face Durant in the NBA Finals. Canada has very strict covid-19 vaccination policies and if the Lakers were to trade for Kyrie Irving, there is a good chance he wouldn’t be able to play in any road games in the NBA Finals.
Pass or pursue proposed trades the Lakers should consider making
The Los Angeles Lakers are going to need to make a trade of some kind to compete next season. But are these proposed trades worth it?
Without Durant, as promising as the Raptors are, the Lakers do not have to worry about that in the slightest. For that reason, a trade with the Miami Heat is the trade that LA should be wishing for in the coming days.