The Los Angeles Lakers have been the least active team in the NBA on both the free agent and trade markets.
They made it through the NBA play-in tournament last year, but were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs, which was quite surprising.
LeBron James is back, JJ Redick is the new head coach of the Lakers, and James' son, Bronny, was selected in the second round of the 2024 NBA Draft.
Those are the three news items that define the Lakers' offseason so far. It doesn't take a genius to see that general manager Rob Pelinka needs to make some big moves for this team to be considered an NBA title contender. As currently configured, that's a long way off.
Los Angeles has assets to offer, including draft picks and expiring contracts, and now it appears the team is looking to do just that.
The Athletic's Jovan Buha reported that the Lakers have been circulating around the league in trade talks for point guard D'Angelo Russell, who has an $18.7 million playing option on his contract for next season. At the time, that seemed to suggest he was on the way, but this is the first concrete report to suggest that.
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Ideal landing spot for Los Angeles Lakers guard D'Angelo Russell
Russell's expiring contract could be worthwhile, but there's a complication here: Los Angeles needs to find a replacement at point guard, whether that's through a Russell trade or some other means, and that has to be taken into consideration.
With that as background, let's take a look at three ideal trade scenarios for D'Angelo Russell.
- Brooklyn Nets: The Lakers are quickly running out of options to strengthen their team. Will they be desperate to help Ben Simmons and turn things around? Strange events have also occurred. In this scenario, Russell would be shipped to Brooklyn along with Rui Hachimura and Gabe Vincent. They would also have salary cap flexibility next summer as Simmons' $40 million contract expires. The Nets were worth the effort in acquiring a second-round pick to help them achieve this goal.
- Utah Jazz: This would be a near one-for-one swap, with the Lakers likely sending some of their draft capital to Utah. In this scenario, the Jazz would get Russell in exchange for Collin Sexton. Sexton has been said to be a trade target and would be a much better fit for the Lakers than Russell.
- San Antonio Spurs: Tre Jones seems like an ideal fit for the Los Angeles Lakers. He's a natural point guard with good distribution skills, which isn't Russell's forte. Here, Los Angeles acquired Jones and big man Zach Collins in exchange for Russell and Gabe Vincent. The team then invested draft capital into making him valuable to San Antonio.
Read more: Latest Los Angeles Lakers News and Rumors
