3. Lakers trade Mo Bamba for Robert Covington
The NBA and NBAPA agreed to a new collective bargaining agreement that has some massive changes that will impact many teams in the league. Perhaps the biggest change is the introduction of harsher penalties for teams who reach a certain threshold over the luxury tax.
The two teams that are heavily impacted by this are the Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Clippers, who are spending a lot of money on their teams and paying harsh taxes as a result. With the punishment now being more than just more money spent, the Clippers may look to free up some space.
Unfortunately for the team, they do not really have any expiring contracts this offseason so they are going to have to get smart with the contracts they move off of. Thus, someone like Bamba who can help free up some space to at least get under that penalty is a godsend for the team.
The player that the Lakers should ask for in return is Robert Covington, who surprisingly doesn’t have much of a role on the Clippers anyway. For whatever reason, head coach Ty Lue doesn’t seem to value Covington as much as the general NBA fan as he only averaged 16.2 minutes per game and hardly played in the playoffs.
Covington is a solid player but the Clippers cannot really leverage that when they don’t seem to value him like they should. Thus, the Lakers might be able to get Covington for just one second-round pick (with the salary-cap relief of Bamba), which would have seemed impossible three years ago.
While the Clippers have not utilized him Covington is still a great wing defender that can space the floor and even offer some small-ball options as well. He would fit perfectly on this Lakers team.