The Los Angeles Lakers have been able to put together a four-game win streak even in the absence of Anthony Davis and now they’re missing other key players like Austin Rivers and Lonnie Walker IV this has been really impressive and in the midst of this we got some recent trade Intel that could have some effects on the Los Angeles Lakers.
In an article from Eric Pincus a Bleacher Report, but there’s a lot of interesting stuff so let’s go ahead and let’s get into it any Russell Westbrook deal for the Lakers starts with the first round pick and this is kind of surprising to me considering the way he’s been playing and the fact that he’s on an expiring contract and at this point we’re also almost halfway through the season by the trade deadline.
Maybe you’ll see some more teams be more willing to take on Russell Westbrook’s money considering the fact that he is on an expiring deal but Westbrook’s production has been solid for La now there was some Intel about the Spurs and Pacers if both of these teams remain under the NBA’s minimum team salary line that means they’ll have to pay their players bonuses and if they could take on Russell Westbrook’s contract while also getting some future draft Capital maybe that could be a better way to use some of that cap space rather than giving out bonuses to some of their guys.
And it also looks like buddy hield could also still be traded and Miles Turner has rebuffed Indiana’s contract extension offers, so they might not get a deal done and if that doesn’t happen, and he’s going to enter 2023 free agency it might make sense for the Pacers to look to trade him they have some young pig men who they could play in his place, and they could potentially get future draft capital or players to help their rebuild and if the Pacers are also potentially looking to trade buddy hield.
I mean it would clear up more minutes for Benedict Mathurin I know the Pacers have been playing well but Benedict Mathurin is really good and I think that he could fill in buddy hield’s role as a starting player really well so trading buddy hield to Myles Turner might not be as bad for the Pacers as you might think especially if they could get back the right players and if the Pacers are looking to compete Russell Westbrook could be a veteran leader for them in a bench role.
Kendrick nunn also put up a really good performance last night and when you look at potential Lakers trades Kendrick Nunn and Patrick Beverly are really the two guys outside of Russell Westbrook who you could look to trade and use to match salary and moves because most of the other guys are either on veteran minimum deals or on rookie deals and then also Lonnie Walker IV I just wouldn’t expect the Lakers to trade him he’s been playing really well for La so with Kendrick and I’m playing well should they really look at trading him if he keeps playing so well in their rotation they need his shooting so maybe he can end up being a really positive contributor for Lakers despite his struggles early on in the season.