A seismic shift occurred in the NBA this week as Damian Lillard was traded from the Portland Trail Blazers to the Milwaukee Bucks as part of a three-team deal. While it did not directly impact the Los Angeles Lakers, the fallout of this trade absolutely could have an impact on the team’s title hopes.
The next domino to fall is Jrue Holiday, who was traded to Portland in the deal. Every contender in the league could use a player like Holiday and the obvious next move for the Blazers is to flip him for even more assets.
If Portland is intent on moving Holiday before the season then the Lakers have no chance of making a deal happen. Los Angeles cannot move its most tradeable contracts until December 15. While the Lakers are out of the game right now, they won’t be out of the game forever.
The Lakers could be a dark horse trade candidate for Jrue Holiday.
If there is one thing that the Blazers have told everyone in the NBA world it is that the team will not rush into a trade that is not valuable. Portland held strong and did not trade Lillard to Miami for a less-than-ideal package and the team likely won’t do the same with Holiday.
And as it stands right now, all of the tangible teams that have been connected to Holiday don’t really have great offers to send. For that reason, Portland could simply hold and wait for a contender to offer more at some point during the 2023-24 season.
Perhaps that contender could be the Lakers. On the following pages, we will break down the Lakers trade package it would take to get Holiday and hand out grades for both teams for the deal.