What’s The Next Move For The Lakers?
Saturday night was one that Lakers fans will remember for a long time, for better or worse. The Purple & Gold acquired Anthony Davis from the Pelicans, and in doing so, completely mortgaged their future.
The Pelicans have agreed to a deal to trade Anthony Davis to the Lakers for Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram, Josh Hart, and three first-round picks – including the No. 4 overall in 2019 Draft, league sources tell ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 15, 2019
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Sure there are a lot of similarities in this trade to the Nets-Celtics one but the Lakers are in a win-now mindset. So now they have a solid trio of Lebron, AD, and Kuzma, so what’s next?
The Lakers still have another max slot so it isn’t out of the question that they go after another star. The most obvious choice here is Kemba Walker. He’s stuck in slightly less than mediocrity in Charlotte and could be the perfect facilitator to this offense.
Kemba Walker will be a top target in free agency for the Lakers after they reached an agreement in principle to trade for Anthony Davis, according to league sources
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) June 15, 2019
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But this is the kinda league where the obvious doesn’t always pan out. Instead, an interesting option for the Lakers would be to reunite LeBron with Kyrie. It has been well covered that the two have made up for their differences in Cleveland and the respect they have for each other. Kyrie has also long been infatuated with the idea of playing with AD. Of course, all those rumors were supposed to happen in either Boston or New York, but it isn’t hard for one to imagine Kyrie in LA.
Another interesting Kyrie note is the off-court stuff LA can help with. Kyrie clearly wants to create a brand for himself, and who better to help than LeBron in Los Angeles.
The other name that has been floated out there is Chris Paul. LeBron’s last banana boat friend with a legitimate shot in the league, Paul and Houston have had their relationship strained in the past few months. In the most Stephen A. way possible, the rumor was raised on Stephen A. Smith’s radio show.
This is the video of Stephen A. Smith saying that he or they are hearing Chris Paul wants out of Houston. pic.twitter.com/P0NxPkFO47
— ClutchFans (@clutchfans) June 14, 2019
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Should the Lakers probably go after some guys to fill out the bench? Ya definitely. Will they? Na, probably not, that’s not the sexy move. Is premier point guard or bust at this point for Rob Pelinka.
-Dillon Leary