Other than Dalton Knecht and Bronny James, the two players they drafted last week, the Los Angeles Lakers’ roster still looks similar to the one they had this past season.
Fans are already criticizing general manager Rob Pelinka and accusing him of allegedly being asleep on the job while some other teams across the NBA have improved via free agency and trades in recent days.
However, that doesn’t mean Pelinka hasn’t been trying to make something significant happen behind the scenes. Insider Anthony Irwin wrote that the Lakers are in trade talks with multiple teams about multiple players.
Via Lakers Daily:
“Sources say the Lakers have held trade talks with the Portland Trail Blazers about Jerami Grant, the Brooklyn Nets about Cameron Johnson and Dorian Finney-Smith, the Toronto Raptors about Bruce Brown and the Washington Wizards about Kyle Kuzma — as well as other teams and other trade targets. To this point, though, those are the names most closely linked to the Lakers, according to league and team sources.”
According to Irwin, Grant would cost two first-round draft picks, while Finney-Smith would require L.A. to give up one first-round pick.
Brown, who was a key factor in the Denver Nuggets winning the NBA championship a year ago, is a player the Lakers have had interest in previously. They wanted to sign him last summer, and they had some desire to trade for him a few months ago.
Kuzma is likely a player fans would welcome back in a heartbeat. While he’s a mediocre 3-point shooter and not an easy fit next to LeBron James and Anthony Davis, he averaged 22.2 points and 4.2 assists while shooting 46.3% from the field this past season. All of those numbers were career highs for him.