The Los Angeles Lakers are in a predicament.
After winning the NBA In-Season Tournament in early December, the Lakers stumbled the rest of the month, entering 2024 with a .
500 batting average record.
There’s plenty of time to right the ship, but there’s no denying this team is underperforming.
Injuries have disrupted the rotation, which is already difficult for Darvin Ham to manage as head coach.
Los Angeles will obviously get more relief as the team gets healthy and the schedule becomes more relaxed, but the team also needs help from the outside.
At this point, and considering this team’s performance in December, it seems like a guarantee the Lakers will make a trade before the deadline.
There are various options for the Lake Show, and it all depends on which team acts as the seller by the deadline.
One team to watch is definitely the Washington Wizards, who are exploring a potential trade package that would be very interesting to the Lakers.
Washington Wizards GET D’Angelo Russell Jalen Hood-Schifino Jackson Hayes 2 future second-round picks Washington is clearly heading towards the top of the lottery and will definitely sell trade assets right.
Of these trade assets, point guard Tyus Jones is the most likely to be traded as his contract expires.
Center Daniel Gafford is not a tradeable player, but he is a very interesting name that would be a good fit for this Lakers team.
In this hypothetical trade, the Lakers would receive a point guard who could play in the starting five in place of D’Angelo Russell.
Although Jones is a little undersized, he is a reliable guard who will thrive on this Lakers team.
The Six-One Guard is by no means a defensive threat, but he is a useful fullback who can stop shots and facilitate shots, and does not require a high usage rate.
Jones is averaging 12.
6 points, 5.
5 assists and 1.
2 steals in 28 minutes per game this season.
He is shooting 53.
7 percent from the field, 42.
5 percent from the 3-point line and 77.
3 percent from the free throw line.
Gafford, on the other hand, is a big who could definitely start for the Lakers if the team wanted to get rid of its over-commitment to one-way wings in the starting five. Gafford isn’t a floor spacer so it would hurt the Lakers’ spacing but it isn’t like the team is trotting out great three-point shooters in the starting five as is. Replace Jarred Vanderbilt with Gafford and it can make sense.
Nikola Jokic openly admitted that the toughest matchup he has faced in his career was the 2020 Lakers when they had several talented bigs to throw at him. That should inspire the Lakers to go get a big that can be more than just a backend rotation player and that is what Gafford is. The young center is also on a three-year deal, so the Lakers can finally get continuity at the position
As far as Washington goes, they get the perfect player to commit to the tank job while still being entertaining in D’Angelo Russell. The trio of Russell, Jordan Poole and Kyle Kuzma truly are the tanking all-stars.
The real value in this deal, though, would be the second-round picks and the addition of Jalen Hood-Schifino. JHS was just taken 17th overall and essentially gives the Wizards a first-round pick in this trade.
