Proposed 4-team trade sees Lakers form unstoppable big 3
By Jason Reed
The latest attempt at a big three did not go as planned for the Los Angeles Lakers. Adding Russell Westbrook to the fold last summer ended up being the worst thing the team could do as Los Angeles missed out on even being a play-in team last season.
Rob Pelinka and co. are trying to right that wrong before the 2022-23 season begins as right now, this roster is not good enough to contend for a championship. The best-case scenario for the Lakers is a Kyrie Irving trade, which as of right now, does not seem very likely.
Los Angeles is first waiting for the Brooklyn Nets to trade Kevin Durant. Without a Durant trade an Irving trade certainly won’t happen. So even if it is a trade to a rival like the Boston Celtics, the Lakers should be rooting for a Durant trade.
However, some Celtics pundits think that Boston could instead help the Lakers not only get Kyrie Irving, but get Kevin Durant as well. Our friends over at Hardwood Houdini recently put together a potential four-team trade package involving the Celtics and Lakers that landed brings both Brooklyn stars to LA.
- Lakers receive: Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving
- Celtics receive: Seth Curry
- Pacers receive: Russell Westbrook, Grant Williams, Celtics’ 2025 first, Lakers 2029 first
- Nets receive: Anthony Davis, Buddy Hield, Myles Turner, Lakers’ 2027 first
The logic behind this massive four-team trade proposal involving the Los Angeles Lakers:
There is a lot to digest in this trade but the gist of it is this: instead of loading up on draft capital, the Nets get the best player they can get in this trade (Anthony Davis) while also getting role players to potentially be a playoff team this year or flip for more assets.
The Pacers are in this trade and get two picks and a young player for the price of taking on Westbrook, which is why the Celtics are in this trade. Boston is in the deal to help send Indiana those assets while getting a nice role player in return in Seth Curry, who would give the team a nice three-point shooter.
And at the end of it all, the Lakers swap AD, Westbrook and picks for Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving. Durant is better than Anthony and Irving is obviously far better than Westbrook, giving the Lakers the best big three in the sport.
Could the Los Angeles Lakers pull this off?
No, they couldn’t.
While we could talk ourselves into it and it seems to make some sense on paper, the team that would scoff at this trade the most is the Brooklyn Nets. I absolutely do believe the Pacers would say yes to this and so would the Lakers. Brooklyn likely says no, and so does Boston (most likely).
As great as Anthony Davis is, he has injury concerns and the Nets know this. Turner and Hield are not that great of assets and while a Simmons-Hield-Harris-Davis-Turner starting five would be fun to watch, it is not going to beat out a team like Boston, Milwaukee, or Miami.
The Nets are much better off getting a young all-star like Jaylen Brown and more picks. Brooklyn can get a total of 4-5 first-round picks on top of Brown by trading both Durant and Irving in separate deals. That is probably a more favorable trade for the Nets to make.
Meanwhile, the Celtics are in a position where they don’t really need to add just one more role player. While I get the appeal of upgrading from Williams to Curry and avoiding having to pay Williams, the Celtics are a superstar away from being bonafide contenders, not an eighth man. They already padded that depth this offseason with Malcolm Brogdon and Danilo Gallinari.
Would the Los Angeles Lakers be the favorites in the NBA if this trade happened? Absolutely. Will it happen? Most likely not.