B/R’s proposed Lakers-Raptors trade is comically horrible for LA
By Jason Reed
The Los Angeles Lakers are at a fork-in-the-road moment. With Anthony Davis injured and the trade deadline around six weeks away, the team must decide if it wants to trade assets to improve or simply accept the reality that they may not be very good this season.
The most realistic trade that the Lakers would make this season would involve two expiring contracts in Patrick Beverley and Kendrick Nunn. However, with Zach LaVine rumors floating around, the idea of a Russell Westbrook trade is still in the air.
While they are not as prominent as they were in the summer, this has sparked the emergence of Westbrook trade proposals from the basketball world. Bleacher Report recently put together one trade for every NBA team that played on Christmas and constructed a Westbrook trade package that would likely leave every Lakers fan outraged.
For those counting at home, that is four first-round picks that the Los Angeles Lakers would be trading to the Toronto Raptors to offload half a season of Westbrook’s contract.
This Russell Westbrook trade with the Raptors would be next-level horrible for the Lakers.
Our friends over at Raptors Rapture broke down this trade and said that it would be laughably lopsided for the Los Angeles Lakers. I could not disagree more. While VanVleet and Trent are undoubtedly good players and are the two best perimeter scorers that the Raptors have, this is far too much value for those two.
It is important to note that both players are on expiring contracts this season, taking a lot of the leverage that the Raptors would otherwise have in this trade. Four picks for two players of this caliber, when the Lakers are only guaranteed to get them for three months, is an absurd overpay.
Sure, Los Angeles could attempt to re-sign VanVleet and/or Trent in the offseason but the team is not as flexible with the cap as some would think. They are going to have to potentially re-sign Lonnie Walker IV and Austin Reaves first and already only have around $34-35 million to spend.
VanVleet is already making a shade over $21 million and his price is only going to go up in the current NBA market. If Anfernee Simons is making $25 million a year then VanVleet will make close to $30 million. The Lakers do not even have the means to re-sign him.
Raptors fans may want more immediate help if they were to trade these two players and that is understandable. However, those Lakers picks are some of the most valuable in the entire sport. Just look at how big of a dumpster fire the team is right now. Now imagine that in five years when both LeBron James and Anthony Davis are likely gone.
Sure, Westbrook’s contract is absolutely a factor in this and you could make the case that the Lakers would have to send more picks to offload him if he was under contract for longer than this season. However, the Raptors would only be footing the bill for half a season anyway and could simply buy him out.
So if you are a Raptors fan you have to ask yourself: would you rather have four of the most valuable picks in the NBA that are essentially all unprotected, or would you rather get a marginal young role player and maybe a protected first or two?
Los Angeles has been extremely hesitant to trade those picks and for good reason. There is no chance in the world that they would trade the two unprotected picks and two pick swaps for a marginal all-star and an average role player.