The Los Angeles Lakers have not gotten off to a great start this season but there is still potential for the team to make something happen. There have been flashes of promise in this Lakers season and if they can make the right moves to improve the roster, the team could make some noise off of the backs of Anthony Davis and LeBron James alone.
Trading Russell Westbrook no longer seems to be on the table as Westbrook is not really the problem this year and the Lakers don’t have any reason to trade two future first-round picks if they don’t think a trade will make that big of a difference.
Thus, the team may explore smaller trades with smaller contracts that the team can easily move. Los Angeles would be limiting the kind of player they can get in return but there are some fringe players that could make a difference in this rotation.
One of the fringe players that could make a difference is Alec Burks. Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report recently broke down Los Angeles’ potential interest in Burks and the reason for said interest will certainly be head-scratching for Lakers fans.
According to @EricPincus, people close to the #Lakers believe that #Pistons SG Alec Burks scoring 23 on them in LA only reinforced his value to Los Angeles. https://t.co/pQpW2zKMxO
— Kyle Cohen (@kylecohenNBA) November 25, 2022
As Pincus noted in his article, the Lakers did check in on Burks when he was a member of the New York Knicks last season at the deadline. Having him come to Los Angeles and drop 23 points on the Lakers may have been one of the best things that could have happened.
Alec Burks would be a perfect fit for the Los Angeles Lakers.
While the reasoning for pursuing him is a bit odd, it does not change the fact that Burks would be an exceptional fit for the Los Angeles Lakers. Sure, he is not a big-name role player, but for what the team needs he would be fantastic.
Los Angeles desperately needs three-point shooting and Burks is one of the best role players that Los Angeles can add to get said shooting. Burks is shooting 44.1% from beyond the arc in 4.9 attempts per game this season. It is not just small sample size success, either. Burks has shot 40.2% from three over the last four seasons with 970 attempts.
Burks ranks 10th in the league in that span in three-point percentage with at least 950 total attempts and is sandwiched between Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Stephen Curry.
Defensively Burks can hold his own as well. The six-six two-guard has been an above-average defensive player according to the advanced metrics in each of the last three seasons. He may not be an Alex Caruso but he would provide solid perimeter defense for the team.
Simply put, Burks could be a new version of KCP for this Lakers team. Los Angeles should have never gotten rid of KCP and having that same kind of impact back in the rotation could come up huge in a potential playoff series.
The question just becomes if Los Angeles can trade for Burks. Financially, the team can send Patrick Beverley to make it happen. But is Detroit really going to take an offer of Beverley and a second-round pick for Burks?
Russell Westbrook’s likely next team after the Lakers is revealed
Whether he is traded or plays out the rest of his contract with the Los Angeles Lakers, we may already know where Russell Westbrook will play next.
That would be a dream scenario for the Lakers but until we know if Burks has a market, we simply do not know if that would be enough.