Third potential Patrick Beverley trade for the Los Angeles Lakers:
At this point in the season, it is Rob Pelinka’s job to be making phone calls to every bad team in the league. With one of the best draft classes in recent NBA history on the horizon, all of these tanking teams are going to be more than happy to give up non-instrumental players for assets.
The Charlotte Hornets are in the thick of the tanking battle. They are currently the worst team in the Eastern Conference with an 11-32 record and are only bested by the Houston Rockets to be the worst team in the league. They have Victor Wembanyama staring directly at them and will be loose with giving up trade assets.
Kelly Oubre Jr. is the asset that makes the most sense for the Lakers. Terry Rozier and Gordon Hayward both have a lot of money attached to them and even though they could make a deal work for Rozier, adding another guard is not the best idea.
Instead, they can get a scoring role player in Oubre, who could essentially be the team’s discount Kyle Kuzma addition. Kuzma and Oubre are not wholly similar but the Lakers would be getting a good scoring wing for a fraction of the cost.
Oubre is not a great three-point shooter and isn’t elite defensively. But he is athletic, can get to the rim and just the fact that he is a wing instead of another guard is huge.
The price is actually cheaper (in theory) than trading for Alec Burks because Oubre is dealing with a hand injury that will sideline him until mid-to-late February.