Is the Lakers Offering their Whole Team for Davis a Bad Move?
News of a new offer from the Lakers for Anthony Davis leaked yesterday and boy is it a doozy. The trade has the Lakers sending Lonzo, Kuzma, Ingram, Rondo, Stephenson, Beasley, and 2 first round picks to the Pelicans for the Brow. The deal would also include some sort of salary cap relief for the Pelicans.
This is a terrible trade for the Lakers on so many levels. First off, Lonzo, Kuzma, and Ingram are all solid, young, talented players. They are perfect role players to complement Lebron. And as we’ve seen in his time in Cleveland, Lebron only needs role players to make his way to the NBA finals. While having two mega superstars like Lebron and Davis may seem enticing, you’ve eliminated not only your bench, but also most of your starting lineup. You’ve also put your team in a position to not win this year. There’s just too much inexperience with the system to get the team playing cohesively. We’ve seen multiple cases where superstars who were paired up need time to adjust to one another. By not doing this trade, the Lakers can be set for a long time. Lonzo, Kuzma, and Ingram may never be superstars, but they will certainly always been above average at worst. And since LA is always a free agent destination, keeping those three will always give LA’s next superstar the perfect supporting cast to compete right away.
This trade would be great for the Pelicans. They get a lot of good, young players and some picks to try to find that next superstar to put with them. They also free up some cap space to try to lure some players to New Orleans. And who knows, with all those picks, they could try to trade up in the draft to take someone like Zion Williamson. This trade is amazing for the Pelicans and awful for the Lakers. I know it’s a different sport, but all I can think of is the infamous Herschel Walker trade, where the Cowboys traded Walker to the Vikings for three players and eight picks. We all know how that deal ended up for the Cowboys. Let’s just hope the Lakers don’t make the same mistake.
-Stephen Brown III (@sbtrey23)
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