The Los Angeles Lakers have been on a roll as of late and it has given the fanbase some hope about how far this team can go. If the front office can bring in the right help, perhaps the Lakers can make it farther than we ever imagined with Russell Westbrook on the roster.
The Lakers do not have the best trade assets to send but they still have assets, even if the logic is not all the way there. Los Angeles is not going to be able to make some kind of revolutionary trade but there are options for the team to explore.
On the most recent episode of ‘The Lowe Post’, host ESPN’s Zach Lowe and Dave McMenamin named three potential trade targets for the Lakers to make a smaller, non-Westbrook trade. They are all familiar names to basketball fans.
Zach Lowe and Dave McMenamin floated these names as possible trade targets for the Lakers for Nunn/Bev and a first (or multiple seconds).
— Laker Central (@LakerCentral365) December 6, 2022
Kyle Kuzma
PJ Washington
Bojan Bogdanovich
But are these Lakers trade targets realistic?
In the order presented in the tweet above, let’s dive into each of the three players and determine whether or not they would be realistic for Los Angeles.
Kyle Kuzma: Not realistic
Lakers fans would certainly love to see Kyle Kuzma back in the purple and gold after the kind of season he is having for the Washington Wizards. While it would be a great homecoming and Kuzma would fit so perfectly on this team, the chances of the Lakers getting Kuzma are slim to none.
Kuzma playing so well this season has increased his trade value and is essentially going to keep the Lakers out of the running. Unless Los Angeles trades a future first (which the team has shown it is not willing to do), they are not going to be able to convince Washington to give up Kuzma for Patrick Beverley, even if a young player like Max Christie is attached.
Unfortunately for Los Angeles, the latest Kuzma report from Shams also makes it incredibly unlikely that he returns to Los Angeles in the offseason as well. As great as it would be, Kuzma is not going to come home to LA.
P.J. Washington: Not realistic without Russell Westbrook
Unfortunately for Lakers fans, P.J. Washington is another trade target that is not very realistic for the team. However, unlike Kuzma, there is a world in which the Lakers could get Washington, it just would not be with one of these smaller trades.
Instead, the only way to realistically get Washington would be if he was included in a bigger deal for Russell Westbrook. This kind of deal would include someone like Terry Rozier with Washington being thrown in. Of course, Charlotte would be demanding at least one unprotected first for this kind of trade.
As far as a non-Westbrook trade goes, Washington does not make a lot of sense. His salary is only at $5.8 million so the Lakers would only be able to send Kendrick Nunn and a minimum contract to get it done.
But even with Washington rejecting a contract extension before the season, the Hornets have no reason to say yes to this trade. They would get far more value out of simply keeping him around this season and if anything, trading him as a restricted free agent in the offseason.
Again, it would take a first-round pick for the Lakers to convince the Hornets otherwise and are they really going to trade a first for someone who they are going to have to pay next offseason? If the team is going to do that they might as well make a Westbrook deal.
Bojan Bogdanovic: Somewhat realistic
Bojan Bogdanovic is perhaps the most realistic player on this list for the Los Angeles Lakers to trade for but I still would not get my hopes up. Quite frankly, the Lakers don’t really have great assets to trade so the players they actually can bring in aren’t great. Bogdanovic would be the best possible get for LA.
The Detroit Pistons have been atrocious this season and it is pretty clear they are better off trading whatever they can trade for assets and tanking for a top pick in the 2023 NBA Draft. That includes Bogdanovic, who the team traded for last summer and signed to an extension.
Detroit really didn’t trade that much for Bogdanovic and that extension seems like it was a play to get more value out of him on the trade market once they eventually did shop him. At 34 years old, though, there could be some teams that are hesitant to bring in Bogdanovic with two more expensive years attached.
For that reason, there is a world in which Bogdanovic’s trade market isn’t that great and the Lakers can get a deal done without including a first. However, in that same breath, the Lakers may not want to do it because they don’t want to take on two more years of big salary for a role player.
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On paper, Bogdanovic would be great and the market can certainly align for the Lakers to strike. But with how they operate internally, I still would not expect it to happen.