Lakers trade for Cameron Johnson
If the Los Angeles Lakers aren't sold on one Brooklyn Net (Nic Claxton) being the final piece of their championship puzzle, there's another option that they could seemingly pivot to. That's Cameron Johnson. He's a player that the Lakers have been linked to before and one that would likely be on their radar if he were to hit the trade block again this summer. It's far from a foregone conclusion that Johnson will be traded, but the Nets can't be completely opposed to the idea of it.
As they continue to rebuild their roster, if the right deal does come across the wire, it'd be surprising if they didn't consider it. I'm not sure if the Lakers have the assets to make an offer that the Nets would have to accept, but they could certainly make it a conversation. And if Los Angeles believes Johnson could be a missing piece for the team, they should certainly pursue the potential for a deal.
What the trade would look like: Because Johnson is on such a good deal, the Lakers could easily find a path toward making a trade offer that works, at least financially. Los Angeles would create an offer around Rui Hachimura's $18 million and could add a couple of pieces to make the offer more appealing. Dalton Knecht would make sense to make the money work and a first-round pick to try and help the Lakers beat other offers.
What I'm afraid of is that the offers for Johnson are going to be much richer than the Lakers are able to afford. For example, if a team is willing to trade two first-round picks, that's not something the Lakers can offer. The closest they can get to that is using Knecht as a player who would essentially be an extra first-round pick. However, I'm not sure many teams view those assets as the same. If the Lakers can get this deal done quietly, they'll have a shot. But if this turns into an all-out bidding war, the Lakers' chances of pulling off such a deal become quite bleak.