3 former Lakers that LA could trade for during the season

2. Kyle Kuzma

Kyle Kuzma was not appreciated enough when he was on the Los Angeles Lakers. Even after the team opted to keep him and not trade him in the Anthony Davis trade, the biggest storyline around Kuzma was what the team could trade him for.

Now that he is out of Los Angeles, Lakers fans are realizing the impact that he had. While Kuzma was not perfect, he was an athletic wing that could cut to the basket and play serviceable defense. He thinks he is a better three-point shooter than he is but on this Lakers team, he would be overqualified.

LeBron James certainly misses him as he sent the most ironic tweet of the entire year to Kuzma even though he was the one that was reportedly pushing for the Lakers to trade for Russell Westbrook.

Kuzma has a player option that he will likely reject after the season so if things start to fall off for the Washington Wizards he will become a trade candidate. Los Angeles does not have much to offer for Kuzma but as we see every year at the deadline, trading for half a season of a player doesn’t always yield the biggest returns.

Heck, if Kuzma wants he could probably force his way to Los Angeles, telling the Wizards that he is going to opt out after the year anyway while also telling other teams that he won’t opt in after the season if it isn’t in LA. Of course, that only happens if that is what Kuzma wants to happen.

To trade for Kuzma, the Lakers could ship Patrick Beverley (expiring), Max Christie and a future second-round pick.