Please reconsider: Dejounte Murray
Dejounte Murray has been the apple of the Lakers' eye, and understandably so, as he could be the only legitimate star available at the trade deadline. The Lakers are hoping to add a third star player to surround LeBron James and Anthony Davis with.
And you can't ignore the ties to Klutch Sports, the super agency spear-headed by Rich Paul, the longtime friend of James.
However, Murray isn't exactly the optimal fit, for several reasons. For starters, he's not a reliable long-range shooter, which should give the Lakers, a team in need of 3-point snipers, pause.
Sure, he's shooting 36.8 percent from three (on a healthy 6.2 attempts), but this is more of an outlier than the norm, as he's a career 34.2 percent shooter. This is pivotal because the Lakers would likely have to give up Austin Reaves, one of their best shooters, in addition to D'Angelo Russell, whose 41.6 percent from deep lead the team.
Speaking of the latter, it's not yet time to punt on the D'Lo experiment.
We've all seen the formula of how to win with James: surround him with shooters.
James is one of the greatest passers in the game and he creates gravity with his offense. Russell is shooting 44.2 percent from deep on catch-and-shoot threes this season, which is easily a career-best.
Murray, by comparison, is shooting 36.5 percent on catch-and-shoot 3-pointers. Just one year ago he was shooting 32 percent on catch-and-shoot 3-pointers.
Murray is a better defender than Russell but not having a reliable jumper is problematic when playing alongside someone as ball-dominant as James.
Especially considering what all the Lakers would be giving up. The Lakers need to add shooters, not to give them away.