Lakers: 2 Pelicans Trades To Upgrade LA
Your Los Angeles Lakers clearly need to make some moves to improve at the trade deadline. Beyond the potential blockbuster move that could be on the horizon, smaller deals may be worth considering.
Would LA be interested in making another deal with tonight's opponent, the New Orleans Pelicans,
Lakers Patrick Beverley, Lottery-Protected First-Round Pick To Pelicans For Send Devonte Graham, Trey Murphy III
The two teams may haggle over protections in this scenario, and perhaps the Pelicans could talk the Lakers into making it, say, a top-10 draft pick. LA still needs high-upside 3-and-D help on the wing, and Murphy represents exactly that, while still on his rookie-scale deal. Graham could be worth a long-term work at the point.
Finally, I have on insane blockbuster reverse-deal that there's no way the Lakers would do, but one that should seriously give the LA front office pause:
Lakers Send Anthony Davis, Lonnie Walker IV To Pelicans For Brandon Ingram, Jonas Valanciunas, Two Of Their Own First-Round Picks
Hear me out: Anthony Davis gets hurt all the time. Shocker, I know. The guy is an absolute defensive wrecking ball when healthy, and a low-post scoring and rebounding behemoth to boot. But he's missed an average of 34 games a year since helping lead the Lakers to their 2020 bubble title. He's already missed 24 games this season, we've still got 29 contests left for him to potentially miss (he's probable today, however).
Brandon Ingram was a bit too raw for LeBron James's liking during his initial go-round with LA, but he has evolved into a terrific scorer across all levels. His lengthy and slinky play have made him one of the league's most intriguing offensive threats, when healthy. Valanciunas is an athletic two-way center who's also a sneaky catch-and-shoot threat from deep (he's not a frequent three-point shooter, but he does make 34.8% of his 1.7 attempts this season). Everyone knows the Lakers overpaid to extract Davis from New Orleans, would Pellies president David Griffin be open to return some of LA's future picks to add someone with AD's ceiling? Would AD force yet another trade out of town? It's probably too risky a deal from NOLA's perspective, but fun to consider.
