Last summer the Los Angeles Lakers made the worst trade the team could have possibly made by sending out legitimate NBA assets for Russell Westbrook. The Westbrook experiment quickly blew up in the team’s face and now the Lakers are looking to move on from the former MVP, despite how much Darvin Ham talks him up.
Prior to trading for Westbrook last season, there was legitimate speculation that the team was going to trade for Sacramento Kings guard Buddy Hield. Even Kyle Kuzma thought he was being traded to the Kings. That is how close it was.
With Hield now on a new team, the Lakers are once again in the market for him. ESPN’s Dave McMenamin reported that the Lakers and Indiana Pacers have re-engaged in trade talks for Hield while the Kyrie Irving trade situation stalls.
Typically there is a common framework that two teams will build around but in this instance, the Lakers and Pacers could get creative and work out a slew of potential packages.
Here are 3 potential trade packages to bring Buddy Hield to the Los Angeles Lakers:
1. The basic Russell Westbrook salary dump
The first potential package that the two teams could work out is a simple Russell Westbrook salary dump. Indiana has no reason to try and contend this season and is going to want to free up the money that the team owes Hield next season.
Thus, the Pacers can take on Westbrook and promptly buy him out while also getting a future first-round pick that could end up very valuable if the Lakers do not turn it around. There is a chance that Indiana would also ask for another pick swap and if the Lakers get really desperate they might say yes.
However, this is fair value as Hield’s contract is not the best (but better than Westbrook’s) and Turner doesn’t really have much trade value by himself. The Pacers have been shopping him for years and nothing has come of it.