NBA Rumors: Lakers linked to Trae Young trade (here’s how it can happen)

Even with the playoffs in full swing, the NBA rumors continue to swirl, some even involving teams that are still playing for a championship. The Atlanta Haws and Los Angeles Lakers are two playoff teams that find themselves at the center of an interesting rumor.

Atlanta’s playoff future is not going to last much longer and that has raised some questions about how much longer Trae Young might last on the team. As talented as Young is, his style isn’t necessarily indicative of winning and the door has at least been cracked for him to be the next disgruntled superstar.

The Lakers don’t seem like a team that would be in the running for Young but there is at least some smoke that is worth considering. An NBA executive reportedly tabbed the Lakers as a team that could be a destination for Young this summer.

That naturally got the conversation going, even if Young wouldn’t be the best fit in LA. However, he is a big name and there is not a franchise bigger than the Lakers so the speculation makes sense. That being said, a lot of fans and pundits are overlooking the unlikely scenario that would need to happen.

NBA Rumors: The only way the Lakers trade for Trae Young is if Austin Reaves is involved.

See where this breaks down? The Los Angeles Lakers do not have many assets to trade, especially for someone who as a superstar name like Young. Young may not have as much value as other stars that are similar to him but he would still cost a decent amount.

A D’Angelo Russell sign-and-trade is simply not going to do it for Atlanta. They would be asking for the best assets the Lakers have to offer and that would include trading Reaves. Reaves is a restricted free agent this season with an interesting contract situation so if the Lakers are scared of losing him they could talk themselves into making a move (as horrible as that would be).

Picks and other players would also have to be involved to make the money work. A viable trade package for Young would probably look like the following:

That is probably the low end of the spectrum of what it would cost for Young. There is maybe one out of 1,000 Lakers fans that would want this trade to happen and hopefully, the front office knows this and wouldn’t make a foolish mistake.

That being said, this is the same front office that traded away all of the team’s depth for Russell Westbrook. If Rob Pelinka is getting pressured by Jeanie Buss not to go over the luxury tax they could do a sign and trade for Young (hard-capping themselves below the tax) as a good PR attempt at saving money.

It would be a bad move in every aspect but we see bad moves in the NBA every single summer. If you were excited about Young possibly coming to LA hopefully this brought you back down to earth.