NBA Trade Rumors: In an attempt to upgrade the roster, the Los Angeles Lakers are shopping this trade package.
The Los Angeles Lakers are one of the teams that many expect to be extremely aggressive at the NBA Trade Deadline. How they’ll get there, who they’ll target, and whether they’ll get a deal done or not is an entirely different conversation.
But we do have some clarity on one of those fronts.
According to a recent report, the Lakers are looking to bring in a game-changing player at the NBA Trade Deadline. And the package they’re shopping around (at least for now) in an attempt to do so is Kendrick Nunn, Patrick Beverley, and one of their future first-round picks.
If you strip this trade package down, it’s two expiring contracts and one of the team’s first-round picks. It’s not surprising that this is what the Lakers are shopping around, but will it be enough?
Will teams bite on this trade package?
Of the players that the Lakers have been linked to recently, it’s not clear if (essentially) a first-round pick will be enough to get a deal done. With all due respect to Nunn and Beverley, it’s unlikely that those are players that many sellers will be targeting – that’s essentially who the Lakers will be dealing with at the trade deadline.
For example, would a future first-round pick be enough to pry away Kyle Kuzma from the Washington Wizards? Would it be enough for the Detroit Pistons to part ways with Bojan Bogdanovic?
We shall get the answer to that question sooner rather than later, but there’s also no reason for any of these other teams to move quickly. The NBA Trade Deadline is still two months away and there’s no real urgency. But there is for the Lakers, which makes this all the more complicated.
If there’s a lack of market for what the Lakers are willing to trade, would that force them to add more to their potential trade offers? Would that leave the Lakers in a place where they’d be more willing to stand pat at the deadline?
There are a lot of questions that need to be answered and there’s a chance that many of them won’t be until the trade deadline. At least for now, we know what the Lakers are working with.