NBA Trade Rumors: Los Angeles Lakers not interested in Julius Randle

NBA Trade Rumors: The Los Angeles Lakers are not willing to take on Julius Randle’s contract from the New York Knicks in a potential trade.

The Los Angeles Lakers made one deal already but I don’t think anyone believes they’re done retooling their roster by any means. The expectation is that they still have at least one move left to make. And the likelihood that it will include Russell Westbrook has to be high.

But because of his big-money contract, trading Russ could prove to be complicated for the Lakers. Pulling off such a move would require Los Angeles to get creative. However, one way the Lakers aren’t interested in being creative is by absorbing another big contract.

The Los Angeles Lakers don’t want to take on another big contract

One possibility that could arise for the Lakers is joining a three-team trade between the New York Knicks and Utah Jazz (presumably in a Donovan Mitchell blockbuster deal) and taking on Julius Randle.

However, according to a recent report, the Lakers aren’t in fact interested in absorbing Randle’s contract from the Knicks in a three-team deal to get off of Westbrook’s contract. If the Lakers are going to get off of Westbrook’s contract, they don’t want to jump into another big deal.

And that’s essentially what the Lakers would be doing with this type of deal. Even though Randle is a better player than Westbrook at this point in their respective careers, he would bring the same type of fit concerns next to LeBron and AD.

Randle is a bit undersized for the power forward position and can’t really play the small forward position. He’d be a talent upgrade for the Lakers but perhaps may not make as big of an impact as a player that would be a better fit. Perhaps even a shooter.

Nevertheless, Randle was likely just one possibility that was out there. If there are more, it’s likely that the Lakers would explore those options.

As good of a story as it would’ve been, it simply doesn’t seem realistic that the Lakers would openly welcome a reunion with Randle. And it’s mostly due to cap implications.