The Los Angeles Lakers are not going to make it very far next season if Russell Westbrook is still on the roster. Thus, trading Westbrook has become a priority for the team this summer, with a Kyrie Irving trade being the best-case scenario.
Another player that has been connected to the Lakers as a plan B option is Buddy Hield. The Lakers reportedly offered Westbrook and a first-round pick to Indiana for Hield and Myles Turner but that trade is now reportedly dead.
That does not mean that a trade won’t happen this summer. All it takes is one of the two sides to get more desperate and a trade will take place. The Lakers are the more obvious team to get desperate as the team does not want to run it back with Westbrook.
Los Angeles also has connections to Buddy Hield that could accelerate their desire to trade for him. Rob Pelinka has shown in his countless additions of former Lakers and current Klutch clients that connections do matter to his decision-making. That could be why the Lakers are seemingly always in the market for Hield.
What are the two connections that Buddy Hield has with the Los Angeles Lakers?
The first is with Rob Pelinka himself. As you may or may not know, Pelinka was an agent before his tenure with the Los Angeles Lakers and his most notable client was Kobe Bryant. Kobe was not Pelinka’s only client, however, as he had several other big-name clients in the league.
Hield was one of those clients as he hired Pelinka to be his agent back in 2016. This would not be the first former client that Pelinka brings in as he brought in Trevor Ariza last summer, although that did not go well.
The other connection that Hield has is on the court and is one that many Lakers fans may not know about. Hield was traded from the Sacramento Kings to the New Orleans Pelicans last season and most NBA fans know of Hield from his Kings tenure.
However, that was not the first team that Hield played for. In fact, Hield was taken with the sixth overall pick in the 2016 NBA Draft by the New Orleans Pelicans. Hield played 57 games with Anthony Davis’s Pelicans before he was traded as part of the DeMarcus Cousins trade.
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So not only does Hield have familiarity with the front office but he also has familiarity with one of the team’s main stars. Because of these connections, Hield might finally become a Laker this summer.