Lakers: A Blockbuster Celtics Trade That Might Benefit Both LA And Boston

Your 23-26 Los Angeles Lakers are currently leading while in the midst of a ferocious battle against the 35-15 Boston Celtics, the best club in the Eastern Conference by record.

Odds of these two bitter longtime rivals actually wanting to make a trade to help each other out are a bit slim, to say the least. But, if both teams are willing to be bold, we've got a spicy potential transaction that might behoove each side.

Oft-injured superstar center Anthony Davis is a terrific player when he's not hurt (and to be fair, he's hurt a lot), and would represent a massive upgrade for the Celtics' frontcourt if the team was willing to gamble on his health.

All-Star Celtics guard Jaylen Brown is an excellent two-way wing, the kind of talent on the perimeter that could help LA All-Star LeBron James take it easy on defense while knowing he has an All-Defensive-caliber talent who has his back. To make the money work in a deal (and to replace the outgoing Davis), Boston could include its own injury-prone center, Robert Williams, who's out tonight and has only been healthy for 17 games all year. When the "Time Lord" does play, he's a menace, as evinced by his All-Defensive Team recognition last season.

LeBron James is a win-now player, and hasn't had high-level defensive help along the wing since an ill-fated 2021 offseason, when LA flipped Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and let Alex Caruso walk in free agency in favor of, uh, Talen Horton-Tucker (a real thing that happened). While AD's ceiling may be a bit higher than Brown's, Brown is significantly more durable, and adding two high-level players in the place of one stud with balky knees would almost certainly improve the Lakers' championship odds. 

But would the Celtics even want to deal for a big man who (by paternal proxy) once rejected prior trade overtures? Perhaps not.