Los Angeles Lakers: Kyle Kuzma is still a prime candidate to be traded

If the Los Angeles Lakers want to improve the roster, it will likely cost Kyle Kuzma.

After falling short in their title defense, if the Los Angeles Lakers want to upgrade the roster it will likely come at the expense of Kyle Kuzma – a player that certainly has had his ups and downs during the first few years of his career.

According to a recent report, the Lakers continue to gauge the market around Kuzma.

"“Meanwhile, Los Angeles continues to gauge rival teams’ interest in Kyle Kuzma, sources told B/R, although [Dennis] Schroder does carry a higher trade value around the NBA,” Jake Fischer wrote."

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The big problem, however, is that the market for Kuzma isn’t as vast as the Lakers hope it would be. It’s likely that the Lakers will be able to add a significant piece by simply trading Kuzma. It will take much more. Though, Kuzma could be a worthwhile piece as a potential sign-and-trade asset.

A big part of the reason why the Lakers ran out of gas in the postseason is because of health. In fact, you can make an argument that the Lakers would still be playing in the NBA Finals if both LeBron James and Anthony Davis were both healthy.

Nevertheless, adding a significant player will be especially important for the Lakers during the offseason. If all else fails, the Lakers could always re-sign Dennis Schroder or use him in a sign-and-trade to upgrade the roster.

Though, I’m not sure that will be enough looking at the landscape of the rest of the Western Conference. If LeBron is going to have one last strong shot at winning another championship with the Lakers, one of two things will likely have to happen next season.

They’re either going to have to have a perfect bill of health this offseason and heading into next season or they’re going to have to significant upgrade the roster with a strong third player – whether they like it or not, it will probably have to come at the expense of Kuzma.