4 potential buyout targets that can boost Lakers’ title chances
By Jason Reed
Kelly Olynyk could be a buyout target for the Lakers
The Utah Jazz were expected to be the worst team in the league last season by a decent margin. Utah traded away its core for a haul of draft picks and it looked like the team was preparing to be in the sweepstakes for Victor Wembanyama.
Unfortunately for the Jazz, the team played too well at the start of the season and had an outside chance of landing Wemby in the lottery. Utah ended up with the ninth overall pick and drafted Taylor Hendricks instead.
The Jazz have not jumped out to the same red-hot start in the 2023-24 season that the team had last season. After winning 10 of the team’s first 13 games last season, Utah has jumped out to a 4-8 start and it is clear that the team will be a seller when the time comes.
That means that Kelly Olynyk’s time with the Jazz is limited. However, like Burks, it might be hard for the Jazz to find a trade partner for Olynyk. His contract is not necessarily the cheapest and big men are not as valued in today’s NBA.
The Lakers could certainly use a big man of Olynyk’s caliber to provide depth alongside Anthony Davis. Christian Wood has been fine thus far and Jaxson Hayes has had his ups and downs. Olynyk could end up outplaying both of them, providing Wood’s floor spacing with more rim protection.
Olynyk is shooting 45.5% from three this season with 1.2 stocks (steals plus blocks) in 20.7 minutes per game.