The Brooklyn Nets are not going to trade Kevin Durant and thus, the Los Angeles Lakers are not going to trade for Kyrie Irving. After months of waiting, an Irving trade is now off the table and the Lakers are going to be tasked with pivoting.
There are two potential packages that have been talked about as alternatives for Kyrie Irving for quite some time now but there are also new potential trade targets for the Lakers as well.
NBA insider Shams Charania appeared on the Pat McAfee Show on Tuesday following the Kevin Durant news and laid out the two new trade targets for the Lakers; both of which currently play for the Utah Jazz.
REPORT: Patrick Beverley and Bojan Bogdanović are “two potential trade targets” for the Lakers, per @ShamsCharania on the @PatMcAfeeShow. pic.twitter.com/q0GWgOzM5V
— Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops) August 23, 2022
This is not hugely surprising as the Jazz are part of a bigger alternative for the Lakers if the team wants to be the third team in a Donovan Mitchell trade. However, the Lakers could get Patrick Beverley and/or Bojan Bogdanovic in several ways.
How the Lakers could trade for Patrick Beverley and/or Bojan Bogdanovic after the Kevin Durant news:
1. A big package for Russell Westbrook
The first way that the purple and gold could trade for both of these players is by taking on both of them and more while dumping Russell Westbrook to the Utah Jazz. With Utah being more concerned about being in the lottery next season, they are a potential Westbrook destination.
The money of just Beverley and Bogdanovic is not enough to trade Westbrook, though. Los Angeles would have to take on a third contract with the most logical addition being Rudy Gay. In return, LA would have to package at least one, if not two, first-round picks with Westbrook.
Patrick Beverley cannot be traded with other players until August 30, which is two months after the Jazz acquired him from the Minnesota Timberwolves.
2. Trading for either role player individually
If the Los Angeles Lakers want to make a bigger trade for Russell Westbrook with another team they could still try and acquire Beverley or Bogdanovic. Los Angeles can make a trade on the side with the Jazz for either role player using Talen Horton-Tucker.
For Beverley, the Lakers would have to attach another contract (like Wenyen Gabriel) in order to make the money work. Beverley doesn’t have much trade value so the Lakers might be able to do this without attaching a pick.
For Bogdanovic, Pelinka would have to attach Kendrick Nunn as well as a future second-round pick. That still might not be enough, and if the team is making a bigger Russell Westbrook trade on the side, it would probably be smarter to just trade for Beverley.
3. As part of a Donovan Mitchell trade
There is still a world in which the Lakers are the third team in a Donovan Mitchell trade. Not wanting Julius Randle’s multi-year contract, Utah could call on the Lakers to help both teams by taking on that contract while sending out Westbrook’s and a pick.
There is a multitude of different ways the three teams could work this trade out. One potential path is to trade Westbrook and a pick to Utah and Talen Horton-Tucker to the Knicks while taking back Julius Randle, Evan Fournier and Patrick Beverley. The Lakers save $2.5 million in this trade.
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Los Angeles could make that exact same package but with Bogdanovic instead of Beverley as well. Either way, there is plenty of moving parts that could result in either player coming to LA as part of a bigger deal.