Lakers: Three Spurs Trades LA Should Pursue Right Now
As you read this, your Los Angeles Lakers are facing off at home against the deliberately miserable San Antonio Spurs. LA has two incredibly important pieces newly available to it tonight, in the form of 6'8" forward Rui Hachimura and 6'10" center/power forward Anthony Davis.
Hachimura was LA's first big near-deadline trade of the season, but here's hoping it's not the team's last. There are several appetizing role players Los Angeles could extract from San Antonio, if the Spurs were willing to play ball. Here are three:
Russell Westbrook, One Unprotected Future First-Round Pick, and Two Seconds for Doug McDermott, Josh Richardson and Jakob Poeltl
Because the Spurs are so far under the cap, they would be able absorb Westbrook's incoming $47.1 million salary without exactly matching it. McDermott, Richardson and Poeltl are the three San Antonio players most frequently floated as possible Lakers -- their salaries total out at a comparatively modest $34.8 million. Would San Antonio be amenable to taking back one of LA's two highly-coveted future first-round draft picks and two second-rounders that seem destined to be in the low 30s? The Spurs may demand both of LA's future firsts, which could prove to be too steep a price to pay for the Lakers front office.
Patrick Beverley, One Second-Round Pick For Josh Richardson
Per Michael Scotto of HoopsHype, Richardson could be had for just one second-rounder. This would be something of a no-brainer if true. Unlike Beverley, who merely starts at shooting guard despite being 6'1", Richardson (at 6'5" with a 6'10" wingspan) is actually the size of a real shooting guard. This year, Richardson is averaging 11.4 points a game on fairly efficient shooting splits of .446/.369/.873. He's also dishing out 3.2 assists and 2.6 rebounds. The three-point percentage (36.9% on 4.8 attempts) would make him a really important addition for LA and help improve the team's positional redundancy at the point.
Patrick Beverley, Two Second-Round Picks For Doug McDermott
In the same piece, Scotto indicates that the asking price for McDermott would be two second-round draft selections. Dougie McBuckets is a rock-steady three-point shooter (he's nailing 42.1% of his 4.3 triples a night) who may be something of a positional redundancy with Hachimura and LeBron James as a 6'9" power forward who can't guard anyone. Hachimura and LBJ can both play small forward, while McDermott is such an elite shooter that he might be worth a look, especially considering he wouldn't cost one of LA's precious first-rounders to acquire.
