Grade the trade: Lakers snag Dejounte Murray in blockbuster proposed deal

A Los Angeles Lakers trade package for Dejounte Murray:

Dejounte Murray is easier to trade for from a money standpoint than someone like Zach LaVine because his salary is only worth $18.2 million for trade purposes. For that reason, the Lakers would not have to package both Rui Hachimura and D'Angelo Russell to make the trade happen. Instead, the package would likely look something like this:

This is essentially all the assets the Lakers have to trade. Because of the league's Stepien Rule, the Lakers cannot trade first-round picks in consecutive years. That is why the 2028 and 2030 picks are swaps, while the 2029 pick can be unprotected.

The New Orleans Pelicans have the ability to take either the Lakers' 2024 or 2025 first-round pick, making the team unable to trade its 2026 first-round pick. While LA cannot offer it in a trade, the team still has a first-round pick in two of the next three years, so trading all the possible picks in this deal would not destroy the team's future (particularly in swaps).

As far as players in the package go, there is absolutely no need for the Hawks to ask for D'Angelo Russell. In a perfect world, the Hawks and Lakers would loop in a third team that takes Russell with that team sending another player or asset to the Hawks. That would still revolve around the foundation of this package.

This would be a soft reset for the Hawks. The team still has Trae Young but Atlanta would be admitting defeat on this year and would be recouping some of the assets in trading for Murray in the first place. In the future, Atlanta would likely try to package Hachimura, another middling contract, and these Lakers picks for a new star to bring in (maybe this is the LaVine team?).

With all this in mind, let's hop into the grades for both sides.