If you started off a list of the NBA's championship favorites, you wouldn't start with the Los Angeles Lakers. They'd be part of the conversation, though. They have too much star power and too potent of an attack to leave them out of the discussion.
But playing a bigger role in the NBA's title rankings would require scratching their itch for a 3-and-D wing. Or maybe more specifically it would take pulling off this hypothetical trade, which would deliver arguably the best answer to this problem in the form of 6'7" shapeshifting stopper Herbert Jones.
After inking a three-year, $67.6 million extension this offseason, Jones won't be trade-eligible until Jan. 14. The Lakers should have no problem with waiting. Fielding a below-average defense (20th in efficiency, per NBA.com) hasn't kept them from posting one of the league's best records (.739 winning percentage, tied for second in the West and third in the entire Association).
If unaddressed, though, that deficiency is problematic enough to spoil the Purple and Gold's most ambitious playoff plans. L.A. has to add a stopper during trade season, and that should be doable with Jones seemingly up for grabs.
The Athletic's William Guillory recently opined that Jones' trade market would hover around "at least one first-round pick." That's basically all L.A. would be giving up, although a distant-future first with no protection added is still quite the valuable draft asset. Even if the Lakers' competitive window looks plenty long with 26-year-old Luka Doncic driving the bus.
If New Orleans would accept this offer, it should be a no-brainer for L.A. Both Maxi Kleber and Dalton Knecht are fringe rotation players, though the latter at least has some change-of-scenery potential to still figure things out.
Still, that's a reasonable cost for the Lakers to attack their biggest need with a potentially perfect fit. Jones' defense is both spectacular and smothering. He can pester guards and forwards on the ball and wreak havoc away from it. He's a true defensive playmaker who always seems a step ahead of whatever offense he's trying to stop.
His offensive game lags plenty behind his defense, but it has some useful traits. His three-ball, for instance, is hitting at better than a 36 percent clip for the second time in the past three seasons. He's always willing to make the extra pass, too, and just last season dished out a career-high 3.3 assists.
That would all be just icing-on-the-cake kind of stuff for the Lakers, though. Their offense is in tremendous, championship-ready shape. They're sixth in efficiency, and LeBron James is still settling in after having his training camp, preseason, and the first 14 games of the regular season denied to him by sciatica. They'll be true Goliaths on the game's most glamorous end.
The offense can, if everything clicks right, potentially lead a championship charge, but that'll only be possible if the defense isn't dragging it down. Get this deal done before the deadline, and L.A. just might strike the kind of two-way balance that history holds is a must for any team with title aspirations.