3 Ambitious sign-and-trade D’Angelo Russell trades Lakers should explore

D-Russ to Philadelphia 76ers

I wonder if a sign-and-trade centered around D’Angelo Russell being sent to the Philadelphia 76ers in exchange for Tobias Harris being moved to the Los Angeles Lakers would work. Or if either team would be interested.

There could be a few repercussions to such a deal for the Lakers, however. This could further complicate Rui Hachimura’s role with the team moving forward and he could now instead be signed and traded elsewhere this offseason. At this point, I’m not sure if the Lakers would be willing to essentially trade Russell and Hachimura for Harris.

The reason why it could work for Los Angeles is due to the fact that Harris is an expiring contract and he could emerge as another valuable trade candidate for the Lakers at next year’s NBA Trade Deadline if the team is looking to make another splash before next year’s playoff run. And if it does end up working out, the Lakers just keep him on board.

It could be a nice win-win for the Lakers from that point of view. The other big question that needs to be answered revolving around this deal is whether the Sixers view Russell as a potential answer under the assumption that they’re going to lose James Harden. And that is far from a foregone conclusion. But perhaps this could be a skeleton framework of a bigger trade idea between the two teams.