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Lakers can’t right their wrongs by trading for former player

By Josh Cornelissen

Kyle Kuzma, Washington Wizards and Anthony Davis, Los Angeles Lakers. Photo by Greg Fiume/Getty Images
Kyle Kuzma, Washington Wizards and Anthony Davis, Los Angeles Lakers. Photo by Greg Fiume/Getty Images /
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The Los Angeles Lakers won the NBA championship in 2020.

It’s important not to forget that fact as the drama and injuries and disappointments and maelstrom of ridicule over the last few years can make it seem like the Lakers haven’t been good in a long time. The reality is that just over two years ago, the Lakers were hoisting the Larry O’Brien trophy in the NBA Bubble in Orlando.

That title-winning team was built around two superstars and top-10 players, LeBron James and Anthony Davis. Yet they didn’t win the title alone; surrounding them were a number of talented role players that stepped up when it mattered and helped to bring home the hardware.

The problem is that since that momentous point in time, the Lakers have made decisions that tore down what was great about that Lakers team and built something around those two stars that didn’t make sense as an elite NBA team. The biggest mistake, in fact, the worst move the Lakers made in the last ten seasons, was to trade two important title-winning players for Russell Westbrook. That move was the death knell for these Lakers as a title contender.

The Los Angeles Lakers could try to right the wrongs of the past by trading for a former championship player.

Now the latest trade rumors, from Eric Pincus over at Bleacher Report, have the Lakers linked to one of those former players, Washington Wizards forward Kyle Kuzma. Now averaging 20 points per game for the Wizards, Kuzma is heading for unrestricted free agency and as such could be a candidate for the Wizards to trade rather than lose him for nothing this summer. He is one of a handful of Lakers trade targets recently revealed.

The Lakers pining for a player who used to be on their team is unsurprising, given the cliff they have fallen off since. What the front office and fans will have to face, however, is the reality that trying to hit the “undo” button on their past mistakes will not be enough to make the future right.

What could a trade for Kyle Kuzma look like, and why won’t it erase the sins of the past?

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